Kishauna Soljour ’16 MA (Hist)/’19 PhD (Hist) has received a distinguished dissertation award from the Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest.

These awards, first given in 1982, are intended to highlight academics “who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields” as they finish their dissertation. Two awards are given each year to recent doctoral recipients, with Soljour winning the award in the Humanities and Fine Arts category.

Soljour’s dissertation, Beyond the Banlieue: French Postcolonial Migration & the Politics of a Sub-Saharan Identity, analyzed the dissonance between French policies of acculturation and the lived and embodied experiences of Afro-French residents since the conclusion of the World War II. Drawing on oral histories from black communities in Paris, Soljour’s work innovatively reevaluates race within contemporary France. Her interest in this project was first piqued during an undergraduate study-abroad program where she was able to conduct independent research interviews in Paris, a process that left her with complex questions that led her to pursue a PhD. She aims to continue researching transnational immigration and acculturation.

Soljour, who is the first black woman to receive a doctorate in history from Maxwell, is currently the senior program manager at Working In Support of Education (W!se), a New York City-based nonprofit providing programs focused on financial education and increasing college and career readiness. Soljour also works as a curriculum and assessment consultant with the Stamford Public Schools. While completing her dissertation, Soljour was also a reading and discussion program coordinator with Humanities New York and a communications contributor for Play for Peace.

For more about Soljour’s Syracuse University experiences, read this Syracuse University News profile.

You can also read more about Soljour’s dissertation and the award in this news announcement, and more about her current work is available at W!se’s website.

02/10/20