Dr. Jeanne Essame

Biography

Jeanne Essame was born and raised in Tours, France, where she completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Tours. She earned an MA in Afro-American Studies and a Ph.D. in History, and has taught French language at the University of Pittsburgh and CU Boulder. She has also worked in banking and taught middle-school in southern France. Growing up in Tours, she developed an interest in topics related to the Caribbean, black activism, the Black diaspora, and visual culture. Between 2019 and 2023, she held positions in American History at Bates College and Africana Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Her research focuses on the scholarship of the African diaspora, African American, and Caribbean studies. Essame's book manuscript examines the theme of black heterogeneity in a global context, specifically through the lens of Haitian engagement in pan-Africanism during the 20th century, including the Duvalier dictatorships. She argues that early black diasporic activism in Haiti emerged as a direct response to both colonial oppression and the U.S. Occupation, and that the new black diasporic identity was shaped by individual experiences, post-colonial African alliances, and global movements for black liberation. Essame’s ongoing research projects include studying the works of Caribbean visual artists Renold Laurent and Jean-François Boclé.

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