Michaëlle Lahaye
Meet the Contributor
Area(s) of Atlantic Study: France
Academic Background
Michaëlle is a SSHRC-funded MA student in Art History at the Université de Montréal, currently specializing in the visual cultures of race and slavery. She holds a BFA in Art History with a Minor in Religions & Cultures from Concordia University. Her graduate research project explores the production of mascarons representing racialized and enslaved subjects in eighteenth-century France. She is particularly interested in how these apotropaic architectural ornaments both reflect and uphold the subjugation of colonial subjects and enslaved people in the context of the French colonial enterprise.
Research Interests
Beyond her MA project, Michaëlle is interested in research relating to:
Architecture
Colonialism & Decoloniality
Decorative Arts
Early Modern & Modern Europe
Ideologies of Race & Gender
Orientalism
Slavery
Why Written in the Waves?
Across centuries, the Atlantic Ocean has served as a passageway for various peoples who have imprinted its bordering lands with a myriad of experiences. In the context of academic research in the humanities, the Atlantic Ocean can also serve as a passageway towards the deconstruction of colonial narratives that continue to permeate contemporary societies. In this regard, Michaëlle believes that Written in the Waves has taken on an important mission in highlighting the different histories that have shaped the Atlantic world. She hopes to contribute to this mission by shedding a critical light on the visual and material cultures of the Atlantic through postcolonial and feminist approaches.
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