Kathleen KellerFaculty

Professor in History and Program Director in African Studies

Professor Kathleen Keller specializes in the history of France and French West Africa in the 20th century. Her current book project is titled A Magnificent Fraud: An African Life in Twentieth Century France. The book tells the story of a a Senegalese man who reinvented himself as a wizard, prince, and marabout over the course of his life in France. Keller recently won grat funding from the American Philosophical Society to conduct archival research on this project in France. 

Dr. Keller's first book Colonial Suspects: Suspicion, Imperial Rule, and Colonial Society in Interwar French West Africawas published in April 2018 by University of Nebraska Press. It recounts the surveillance of "suspicious persons" by French colonial police in the interwar era. The book delves into the politics of colonial rule, the role of the "civilizing mission," and understandings of urban people and space.

Prof. Keller has also published articles in the journals French Historical Studies, French Colonial History, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History.

She recently published an essay about anti-colonial protest in the Washington Post.

Prof. Keller teaches courses on Africa, Europe, women's history, world history, and imperialism. 

Education

Ph.D. History, Rutgers University; B.A. History and French, University of Notre Dame

Areas of Expertise

colonialism, France, West Africa, and world history

Interests

archival research


Courses Taught

HIS-120 (Europe 1648-Present), HIS-201 (Empire and Culture), and HIS-350 (South Africa/Apartheid)

Past
Synonym Title Times Taught Terms Taught
HIS-150 Africa and the World 15 2023/FA, 2022/FA, 2021/FA, 2020/FA, 2020/SP, 2019/SP, 2018/SP, 2017/SP, 2016/FA, 2013/FA, and 2011/FA
HIS-120 Europe 1648-Present 7 2022/SP, 2019/SP, 2018/SP, 2015/SP, 2012/SP, and 2011/FA
HIS-105 World History 6 2017/FA, 2017/SP, 2014/FA, and 2012/FA
HIS-300 Senior Research Sem 5 2023/FA, 2020/FA, 2020/SP, 2017/FA, and 2015/SP
HIS-251 Memorializing Mau Mau 5 2021/FA, 2018/FA, 2016/FA, 2015/SP, and 2012/FA
HIS-200 History Seminar 4 2022/SP, 2019/FA, 2018/FA, and 2018/SP
HIS-312 France Under the Nazis 3 2022/FA, 2021/SP, and 2017/SP
HIS-397 Honors Tutorial II 3 2021/SP, 2020/SP, and 2019/SP
HIS-201 Empire and Culture 3 2019/SP, 2013/FA, and 2012/SP
HIS-350 Apartheid 2 2022/SP and 2019/FA
FTS-100 FTS:Surveillance 2 2021/FA and 2016/FA
CUR-115 Understanding the Past 2 2021/SP
HIS-226 European Women 2 2020/SP and 2013/SP
HIS-344 ST:Apartheid 2 2017/FA and 2014/FA
CUR-110 Historical Perspective II 2 2013/SP
HIS-396 Honors Tutorial I 1 2019/FA