Dr. Mélanie Lamotte

Biography

Mélanie Aimée Marie Lamotte is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of History at Duke University. She received her PhD in History from the University of Cambridge and later became a fellow of the Andrew W. Mellon Program at Stanford University. Her work as a historian centers around themes of race, colonialism, and slavery during the early modern period. She particularly focuses on the French colonial world, with an emphasis on Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Caribbean, French Louisiana, Senegal, and the Isle Bourbon. Through her research, she seeks to analyze the complexities of the French Empire by emphasizing the perspectives of both colonizers and the colonized, aiming to invite a deeper understanding of colonial history. Lamotte’s current research and publications explore unifying racial policies in the early French Empire and their implications on various societies. Additionally, she engages in artistic works examining historical policies targeting individuals of non-European ancestry from 1603 to 1758.

Research Interests