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Robin Phylisia Chapdelaine

Associate Director, Center for African Studies
Headshot of Robin Phylisia Chapdelaine

Dr. Robin Phylisia Chapdelaine comes to us from Duquesne University where she is an associate professor of history and Director of Undergraduate Studies. She has also held administrative roles at Princeton University and Rutgers University. Her research focuses on human trafficking, child slavery, equity in higher education, and Black Joy practices. She is co-editor of When Will the Joy Come? Black Women in the Ivory Tower (2023); author of The Persistence of Slavery: An Economic History of Child Trafficking in Nigeria (2021); and won the 2021 Association for the Study of Worldwide African Diaspora prize for her article in "Marriage Certificates and Walker Cards: Nigerian Migrant Labor, Wives and Prostitutes in Colonial Fernando Pó," in African Economic History. She has published articles in Journal of West African History, Radical Teacher, and Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology and is currently guest editor for the theme “Retrospectives on Child Slavery in Africa” in Genealogy. Chapdelaine also has several chapters in co-edited volumes and is working on her next book Embrace Black Joy: How Empathetic Teaching Empowers All StudentsThis text aims to be a pedagogical tool that assists educators to embrace Black Joy as a worthy topic of inquiry in the classroom and one that benefits all students. She earned a Ph.D. in Women's & Gender History and African History at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) and a B.A. at Santa Clara University. She enjoys spending time with her dog (weimaraner) De La Soul, camping, and listening to mystery themed audiobooks. As a California native, she looks forward to returning to her home state.

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