Academics

Faculty & Staff

Veronique Helenon, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, College of Liberal Arts
  • Telephone: 617.287.5779
  • Office Location: Wheatley Hall,04, 00101

Areas of Expertise

African History, African Diaspora History, History of Colonialism in Africa, Black Popular Culture, Caribbean History

Degrees

PhD, History, École Des Hautes Études En Sciences Sociales (EHESS. Paris, France) Centre d’Études Africaines, 1997
DEA, History, Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po, Paris. France), 1989
DEUG, Economics, Sorbonne, (Paris, France), 1986

Professional Publications & Contributions

  • French Caribbeans in Africa: Diasporic Connections and Colonial Administration, 1880-1939, New-York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011.
  • “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view’. Distance as a Mode of Domination: Legal Elements of the Slave and Colonial Periods.” The Journal of Contemporary Thought, 2011.
  • “Grégory Vorbe: Passeur de mots.” Branchements identitaires dans l’art contemporain haïtien. Edited by Babacar M’Bow. 2011.
  • “Lumina Sophie” in Women in Caribbean Politics, by Cynthia Barrow-Giles ed., Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2010.
  • “French Caribbean in Africa: The Role of the Freemasonry, 1900-1939” in Toyin Falola, Niyi Afolabi, & Aderonke Adesanya eds. Migrations and Creativity in Africa and the African Diaspora, Carolina Academic Press, 2008.
  • "Africa on their Mind. Rap, Blackness and Citizenship in France" in Sidney Lemelle & Dipannita Basu (eds.), “The Vinyl Ain't Final”: Hip-Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, Pluto Press, 2006.
  • Foreword to The Life, Thought and Legacy of Cape Verde's Freedom Fighter Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973): Essays on His Liberation Philosophy. John Fobanjong and Thomas Ranuga eds. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006.
  • "Races, statuts juridiques et colonisation. Antillais et Africains dans les cadres administratifs des colonies françaises d’Afrique" in Patrick Weil & Stéphane Dufoix, eds. L’esclavage, la colonisation et après, Presses Universitaires de France, 2005.
  • "Police. Rap Music in France and the Prosecution of NTM. Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, 1 : 3 (1998) : 233-240.
  • "Un aspect de la politique coloniale française en Afrique: les administrateurs coloniaux originaires des colonies de Guadeloupe, Martinique et Guyane." Le discours psychanalytique, 16, special issue, (January, 1996) : 229-240.
  • “Barack Obama." The Encyclopedia of African American History. Leslie Alexander & Walter Rucker editors, Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 2010.
  • “Barack Obama." The Encyclopedia of African American History. Leslie Alexander & Walter Rucker editors, Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 2010.
  • “Aimé Césaire”, “Martinique” and “Blacks in Europe." Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Carole Boyce-Davis editor, (Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2008)
  • “Aimé Césaire”, “Martinique,” and “Blacks in Europe." Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Carole Boyce-Davis editor, (Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2008)

Additional Information

Work in Progress

Book:

  • Claiming Center Stage. A History of Hip Hop, Race, and Identity in France.

Articles:

  • “Race, Racism, and the Academe. Black French-speaking scholars in the French and American Academe.”
  • “Music and the Intellectual Formation of the Nardal Sisters.
  • “From Dahomey to the Caribbean. King Gbehanzin’s Exile in Martinique, 1894-1906.”
Honors
  • Fulbright fellowship, Africana Studies Program, NYU (1996-1997)
  • Three-year research fellowship from the French Education Department (1990-1993)
  • NEH Faculty Workshop on Cuban Music in the Humanities Context, FIU (Summer 2006)