Biography

Kelly Duke Bryant teaches a variety of courses in African history, along with historical methods and world history. She earned her B.A. at Kenyon College, her M.A. at the University of Wisconsin, and her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. Her first book, Education as Politics: Colonial Schooling and Political Debate in Senegal, 1850s-1914, was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2015 and can be purchased here. The book reinterprets the origins and significance of the election of Blaise Diagne as Senegal's deputy to the French National Assembly in 1914 in light of the history of colonial education in Senegal.  

Dr. Bryant has also written several research articles which have appeared in such publications as the Journal of African History, the International Journal of African Historical Studies, and French Colonial History. Her current research explores the history of childhood in colonial Senegal from 1848 to 1940. She won the 2019 Fass-Sandin Prize, awarded by the Society for the History of Children and Youth for the best article published that year, for her article “"Runaways, Dutiful Daughters, and Brides: Family Strategies of Formerly Enslaved Girls in Senegal, 1895-1911.”: https://bit.ly/31UEzdN

Dr. Duke Bryant's first book, Education as Politics: Colonial Schooling and Political Debate in Senegal, 1850s-1914.

Listen to Dr. Duke Bryant's podcast about her book here.