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Hilary Jones
Associate Professor of History and African American and Africana Studies
Director of Graduate Studies

Hilary Jones teaches and researches about West Africa and its interconnected histories with Europe and the Americas. Jones studied at University Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar, Senegal) during her junior year at Spelman College. In 2003, she earned the PhD in African History from Michigan State University, minoring in Comparative Black History and African Art History. Jones’ first book, The Métis of Senegal: Urban Life and Politics in French West Africa (Indiana University Press, 2013) examines multi-racial identity through the lens of Senegal’s Afro-European population who played key roles in the life of Senegal’s nineteenth century Atlantic and French colonial towns. Her second monograph, in progress, considers the problem of the stranger in French West Africa from World War I until the dawn of de-colonization in 1950. Through case studies of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants, British West African followers of Marcus Garvey, French Caribbeans in the colonial service, and West African students who travelled to Paris, Jones provides a fresh perspective on the use of race by colonial empires, the migrations of colonial subjects in the aftermath of World War I, and how West Africa became a site for building modern diasporas in the interwar era. The recipient of a Fulbright IIE Scholar award and a Senior National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship from the Council on American Overseas Studies Centers, Jones conducted field research in Senegal, Martinique, and Guadeloupe for this project. She teaches HIS 100/AAS 100: Introduction to African Studies, AAS 301, Introduction to the African Diaspora, and HIS 253/AAS 253: History of Precolonial Africa.  Jones also offers seminars on Slavey and the Slave Trade in Africa, African Gender History, Black France, and Africa and America.  Hilary Jones currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of History.

Contact Information
Hilary.Jones@uky.edu
1767 Patterson Office Tower
859-257-4343
Research Interests
  • African History
  • African Diaspora
  • Atlantic History
  • French Empire
  • Women
  • Gender and Sexuality
Affiliations
  • History
  • African American and Africana Studies