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Arielle Rochelin

Student
History

Overview


I am a PhD student studying African American history, Black women's history, and the histories of the Black diaspora. My dissertation tells the unsung stories of Black missionary women from the United States who travelled to the Congo, Malawi, and Liberia at the dawn of the twentieth century. Missionary women demonstrate how binaries of collaboration and resistance are poor models from which to understand the performance of missionary work and the operation of race and gender in colonial Africa. Perhaps most importantly, missionary women show us the ways that Black women across the Atlantic used uplift and respectability to create usable models of emancipatory politics at home and abroad. 

Before coming to Duke, I taught high school social studies courses in Senegal, Massachusetts, and Georgia. I am also the assistant director of the Black Reproductive Justice Archive, a digital repository devoted to centering the stories and experiences of people who are on the frontlines of supporting Black women’s reproductive lives.

Educational Background

Ph.D. in African American History, Duke University
M.A. of Arts (History), Cornell University, Ithaca
M.A. in Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
B.A. in African Studies and International Politics, Atlanta, GA

Current Appointments & Affiliations