Dr. Mary Lewis

Biography

Mary Lewis is the Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History at Harvard University, where she also serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Her research encompasses various questions surrounding immigrant rights in 20th-century France and the nature of French colonial rule in North Africa and the Caribbean during the late 18th century. Currently, she is engaged in a project titled 'The French Decolonization,' which examines the transformation of France’s Atlantic empire following the loss of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). In this context, she explores the trajectories of individuals and companies that abandoned Haiti and investigates new business ventures, trading partners, and relationships that emerged after 1804. Additionally, her work considers the ways in which the French government attempted to maintain and expand slave-labor economies in Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Guyana over the following half-century.

Research Interests