Expertise
Modern French, European and Colonial HistoryResearch Interests
History of Leisure, Tourism and Consumer Culture; French Colonial and Environmental History; Histories of French RuralismBiosketch
I received my Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University and have been at UMass Lowell since 2006. My scholarly research primarily addresses questions of place and displacement within Modern French, European and Colonial history. My current book manuscript, "Empire of the Outdoors: Sites, Practices and Conflicts of Open-Air Leisure in Protectorate Morocco" considers the role of the outdoors and open-air leisure in the extension, the negotiation, and ultimately the undoing of French colonial power in Morocco during the Protectorate (1912-1956). It will be published by the University of Nebraska Press as part of its ongoing series, "France Overseas: Studies in Empire and Decolonization."
My first book, "Enacting Brittany: Tourism and Culture in Provincial France" (Ashgate, 2012) examined the historical conversion of France’s westernmost region of Brittany into an arena of modern place promotion and tourist exchange. My second book was a co-edited collection entitled "Place and Locality in Modern French History" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014), which analyzed the changing resonances and possibilities of local connection in modern and contemporary France. I have published articles in "French Historical Studies," "French Colonial History," "Journal of Social History," the "Journal of Tourism History" and other scholarly journals, as well as multiple chapters in edited collections. I have also served as North American editor of the journal "Modern and Contemporary France."