Refugee Histories in the Global South
RSC Public Seminar Series, Hilary Term 2021

How does forced migration look different if we examine it through a historical perspective? How have refugees been historical actors, as well as victims? This series examines a range of topics that illuminate these questions, by examining the historical entanglements between migration, im/mobility, colonialism, race, and borders.

Convenor: Dr. Anne Irfan

About the Speaker

Sarah-Jane (Saje) Mathieu is Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota and a former Faculty Fellow at Harvard University’s Warren Center for Studies in American History. Professor Mathieu earned a joint PhD in History and African American Studies at Yale University and specializes in 20th century American and African American history with an emphasis on immigration, war, race, globalization, social movements, and political resistance. Her first book North of the Color Line examines the social, cultural, legal, and political impact of African American and West Indian sleeping car porters in Canada. She is currently working on her next book, The Glory of Their Deeds: A Global History of Black Soldiers and the Great War Era. This book examines the experiences of Black soldiers and civilians during World War One, both in Allies and Central Powers nations. The book explores how race shaped the politics of enlistment and engagement in the British, Canadian, African, Caribbean, French, American, and German armies. It also discusses how Blacks, whether combatants or intellectual-activists, challenged prevailing racialist ideas and practices during the Great War era.

Professor Mathieu has earned several international awards and is a former fellow at the University of Heidelberg’s Center for American Studies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. She is also the recipient of a number of awards for teaching excellence.