Curriculum Vitae

Education

 

PhD Candidate in History at Michigan State University

  • Dissertation title: Immobility in a Sea of Migration: biographical histories of transnational families in Zanzibar and Oman, ca 1850-2019

  • Committee: Laura Fair, Walter Hawthorne III, Aminda Smith, Leslie Moch

  • Examination fields:

    • African History

    • East Africa

    • Global history of Migration and Transnationalism

    • Global history of Gender and Sexuality

  • Projected defense date: April 6, 2020

 

MA in History from the University of Vermont—October 2013

  • Thesis title: From Ruffles to Rifles: The Multifaceted Modern Woman as Imagined by British Settlers in Interwar Colonial Kenya

  • Committee: Sean Stilwell, Abby McGowan, Paul Deslandes

  • Examination fields:

    • African History

    • British Empire

 

BA in History and Anthropology from the University of Vermont—May 22, 2011

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Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

 

  • Milton E. Muelder Award—2018-2019

    • MSU Department of History endowed award

    • $30,000

  • Fulbright Hays DDRA—2017-2018

    • For twelve months of research in Oman, UK, and Tanzania

    • $43,200

  • Fulbright IIE US Student fellowship—2016-2017

    • For nine months of research in Tanzania

    • $23,000

  • FLAS Scholarship for Swahili language—2015-2016

  • FLAS Scholarship for Arabic language immersion in Oman—Summer 2015

  • FLAS Scholarship for Swahili language immersion in East Africa—Summer 2014

  • Harold Marcus Scholarship—2013-2016

  • Critical Language Scholarship for Arabic language immersion in Tunisia—Summer 2012

  • Phi Beta Kappa—2011 

  • Cum Laude (University of Vermont)—2011

  • Lambda Alpha member (National Anthropology Honor Society)—2011

  • Phi Alpha Theta member (National History Honor Society)—2010

  • Dean’s List (University of Vermont)—2007-2011

  • Vermont Scholar Fellowship—2007-2011

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Publications

“Huxley, Elspeth.” The British Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

 

 “Quinine Capsule.” The British Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

 

Review of African Appropriations: Cultural Difference, Mimesis, and Media, by Matthias Krings, H-Net: H-Material-Culture, 2016.

 

“Continuity of Religious Dissimilarity: Enslaved Muslims of the Caribbean,” The University of Vermont History Review, XXI (Fall 2010-Spring 2011), 33-48.

Conference Presentations

“Inventing and ignoring a border between land and sea in colonial Zanzibar” at African Studies Association annual meeting, (deferred from November 2020 to November 2021 for COVID)

 

“Immobility during mass migration: biography of a murdered family’s things” at a panel sponsored by the Islam in Africa Studies Group at the African Studies Association annual meeting, November 2019 

 

Panel Discussant: “Transcending Boundaries” IGHS Conference at Central Michigan University, March 29, 2019

 

“Microhistories of Global Oceans: A Comparative Historiography of Atlantic and Indian Ocean Microhistories” at the MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference, Michigan State University, March 19, 2016

 

“‘We Follow by Jet Planes’: Migration between Zanzibar and Oman in the latter half of the Twentieth Century” at Migration Without Boundaries: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference on Migration, Michigan State University, October 11, 2014

 

“‘Upholding the Prestige of the Empire in Evening Dress’: Visual Culture of the White Female Body and Imperial Femininities among British Settlers in Interwar Kenya” at the Windy City Graduate Student History Conference, University of Illinois Chicago, November 2, 2013

 

“Muscular Maternalism and the Memsahib in Colonial Kenya” at the MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference, Michigan State University, October 26, 2013

Teaching Fields

World History

African history

Islamic world 

Gender and sexuality

Migration

Historical methods

Teaching Experience

Being a GTA involved independently running 3 separate weekly sections of a course each semester, in which I led discussions, lectured, and created active learning classroom activities.  I was responsible for grading and classroom management of 75-100 students per semester. 

 

Graduate Teaching Assistant at Michigan State University

  • Europe and the World: French Revolution to Charlie Hebdo—Fall 2016, Spring 2019

  • Latin America and the World—Spring 2015

  • Europe and the World: Exploration to Colonialism —Fall 2014

 

Online teaching at Michigan State University

  • Pandemics: Past, Present, and Future—Fall 2020

  • Social Science of Sports: Culture and Soccer—Summer 2015, Summer 2016 

  • World History to 1500—Summer 2014 

 

Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Vermont

  • Introduction to American History 1642-1865—Fall 2012

  • Introduction to African History since 1865—Spring 2012

Languages

Swahili

French

Arabic

Public Engagement

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I hold public engagement to be foundational to my ethics as a scholar. Most important to me is sharing my findings within my research locations, remembering that it is their history and constantly being delighted with the genuine interest that people in Zanzibar and Oman show for my research. But I also prioritize engagement with the American public, not only for the emotive reason that research in its greatest ideal should advance public knowledge but also out of gratitude for the fact that my research has been generously funded by the American taxpayer through multiple large Fulbright grants. 

 

  • Guest lecture in Swahili at Fuoni Mambosasa Primary School (in Zanzibar) on history of Zanzibar-Oman connections—July 2019

  • Guest lecture on methods in African history to undergrads at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign—April 2019

  • Public lecture on historical connections of Oman with Zanzibar at the Center for Omani Arabic in Muscat—May 2018

  • Public lecture at Limbani Secondary School (in Pemba, TZ) on methods of historical research—October 2017

  • Interpreter at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum—2010-2011

    • Ran tours and engaged the public in learning about early Vermont history

University/Department Service
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Ran workshops for the MSU Writing Center—2016, 2019

  • On applying to Fulbright—2019

  • On applying to Graduate School—2016

  • On writing in the humanities—2016

 

Ran workshops for the MSU Graduate History Association—2015, 2016, 2019

  • On digital tools for analogue historical research and writing—2019

  • On grant applications for social research abroad—2016

  • On preparing for comprehensive exams—2016

  • On making the most of conferences—2015

 

MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference organizing committee—2013-2017

  • Chair of Advertising subcommittee—2015

    • Ran advertising subcommittee meetings

    • Promoted the conference at MSU, on H-Net, among the pubic within the greater Lansing area, and at regional universities

    • Designed flyers and digital promotional materials

    • Wrote and distributed Call for Papers 

  • Chair of Conference Organizing Committee—2014

    • Responsible for overseeing all subcommittees 

    • Ran meetings of the full organizing committee

    • Chair of fundraising subcommittee—2013

    • Raised $8000 from donors

    • Ran fundraising subcommittee meetings

 

Migration Without Boundaries conference organizing committee—2013-2017

  • Fundraising subcommittee—2016-17

    • Raised money from donors

    • Advertising subcommittee member—2013-2015

    • Promoted the conference at MSU, on H-Net, among the pubic within the greater Lansing area, and at regional universities

    • Designed flyers and digital promotional materials