Alexandra Cornelius-Diallo

 

Alexandra Cornelius-Diallo

EDUCATION

Washington University, St. Louis                             St. Louis, MO

Ph.D. American History

Minor Fields: African American Men and Women’s History

Dissertation directed by Professor Iver Bernstein.

Purdue University                                                      West Lafayette, IN

M.A. American History

Master’s Thesis: Breaking the Mold: Charles Thompson and the Social Scientific Attack on Theories of ‘Negro’ Intellectual Inferiority.

M.A. Thesis directed by Professor Vernon J. Williams Jr.

Hunter College                                                          New York, NY

B.A. History

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Cornelius-Diallo’s research examines the development of “racial science” during the nineteenth century. Her book manuscript titled ‘More Approximate to the Animal:’ African American Men and Women’s Resistance to the Rise of Scientific Racism in Mid-Nineteenth Century America  provides a gendered analysis of the ways in which African Americans --enslaved and free, lettered and illiterate -- addressed scientific theories of racial differences. Cornelius-Diallo argues that a gendered analysis of the development of scientific racial discourse illuminates the ways in which the scientific constructions of human differences served racist, sexist, and imperialist political agendas.

Previous studies of racial science during the nineteenth century have ignored the centrality of scientific efforts to construct the black female body as a laboring body, one bereft of “motherly” instincts. Upon publication of the manuscript, Cornelius-Diallo’s next research project will focus on scientific constructions of black motherhood as they informed social policy makers between the mid nineteenth to late twentieth centuries. 

Although it is clear that science historically has been misused, Cornelius-Diallo encourages students to move beyond a simple vilification of science. Instead, they are challenged to consider the ways practitioners may use medicinal and scientific knowledge as a tool of resistance. 

SELECT RECENT PUBLICATIONS

I Will Do a Deed for Freedom. : Enslaved Women, Scientists of Race, and the Contested Discourse of Black Womanhood.” In Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence. Maria Ochoa and Barbara K. Ige eds. Seal Press. 2008.  “African American Responses to the Rise of Scientific Racism during the Mid-Nineteenth Century.” In Celebration of Black History: Gyro Colloquium Papers VI. Chestnut Hill: Boston College, 2001.

COURSES

Fall 2006- Present   Florida International University                               Miami, FL

Courses: African American History, I and II; Modern American Civilization; Slavery, Emancipation and Reconstruction;

Race, Gender, and Science in American History

Spring 2006                University of New Hampshire.                                 Durham, NH

Courses: Resistance and Revolution: African American Men and Women's History and Culture. (American Studies Seminar);

Race, Gender, Science, and the African American Experience. (History Seminar).

Spring 2004, 2005      Phillips Academy Andover                                        Andover, MA 

Instructor. Course: U.S. History: World War II to the Present.

1995-1997                               Washington University, St. Louis.                            St. Louis, MO

Instructor. Courses: Introduction to African-American Studies: Colonial Era to Civil War; Introduction to African American Studies: Reconstruction to the Present. Department of African and African-American Studies, Washington University, St. Louis.

Select Professional Papers and Invited Lectures

2008    “The Age of Lincoln.” Social Science History Conference. Miami, FL

2007    Chair. “Enslaved Africans and Insurgencies in the Americas .” Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Charlotte.

2007    “‘They Had No Need to Inquire’: The Public Nature of Enslaved Women’s Abuse and Resistance.” Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

            Charlotte.

2007    “Unstable Scientists: Constructing Haiti and Jamaica during the Civil War Era.”

             American Historical Association. Atlanta.

2005    “‘It is Quite Interesting to Observe a Negro’: Hermann Burmeister, Racial Science, and the Defamation of ‘The Negro’ in Brazil . ” Annual Meeting of the New England American Studies Association. Worcester, MA.

SELECT AWARDS

African American Research Library and                                                     2008

Cultural Center. Ft. Lauderdale

Research Fellow

University of New Hampshire                                                                      2005-2006

Post Doctoral Fellowship

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation                                                                     2003, 2004

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Mentor Recognition

New England Board of Higher Education                                                    1998

Visiting Dissertation Scholar-in Residence

Library Company of Philadelphia                                                                 1998

Research Fellowship

Washington University, St. Louis                                                                 1998

Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence

Washington University, St. Louis                                                                 1994

Chancellor's Fellowship, Washington University

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Assistant Professor                                                                

Departments of History and                                                                                      

African and African Diaspora Studies                                              

Florida International University                               

e-mail: acdiallo@fiu.edu

Biscayne Bay Campus

AC1 164

(305) 919-5805