IN THIS SECTION
Faculty
Visiting Faculty
Louis Granados
Qunyu Tan
Emeriti Faculty
Bentley Duncan
Charles Gray
Harry Harootunian
Ping-ti Ho
Halil Inalcik
Barry Karl
Julius Kirshner
William McNeil
Peter Novick
Associated Faculty
Rachel Jean-Baptiste
Assistant Professor of African History
Ph.D. Stanford University 2005
The University of Chicago
Department of History
1126 East 59th Street, Mailbox 103
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 834-8767 -- Office
(773) 702-7550 -- Fax
Email: rjeanbaptiste@uchicago.edu
Field Specialties
Central Africa; history of women, sexuality, and gender; urban history; customary and modern law; post-colonial social and cultural history.
Biography
I am a historian of Africa who specializes in the social, cultural, and political history of Central Africa. My current research interests include gender, sexuality, urban history, colonialism and the law in twentieth century Gabon. I am working on a manuscript entitled A Free Town: Marriage and Sex in Twentieth Century Libreville, Gabon. The manuscript examines contestations over conjugal and sexual relationships in Libreville to understand transformations in gender roles, social status, and political authority in the emerging urban locale. My other research projects on Gabon include interracial sex and métissage, as well as a project on the codification of customary law. I am also interested in African diaspora studies, currently researching the politics of tourism and slave trade history in Ouidah, Benin.
Teaching
My teaching interests cross time and space in Africa. Undergraduate courses include a survey of modern African history, and courses on urban history, as well as African women's history. Graduate course offerings include history of sexuality in Africa , gender and colonialism, history of Central Africa, and Africa, the Atlantic World and slavery.
Publications
"'The Option of the Judicial Path:' Disputes over Marriage, Divorce, and Extra-Marital Sex in Colonial Courts in Libreville, Gabon (1939-1959)." Cahiers d'études africaines, Volume 187-188, 2007, pp. 643-670.
"These Laws Should Be Made By Us": Customary Marriage Law, Codification And Political Authority in Twentieth-Century Colonial Gabon, The Journal of African History , Volume 49, Issue 02, July 2008, pp 217-240
"A Black Girl Should Not be With A White Man": Sex, Race, and African Women's Social and Legal Status in Colonial Gabon, c. 1900-1946, Journal of Women's History, forthcoming, #3, Volume 22, Autumn 2010.