Biography

My research interests range widely, from the history of justice and economics to gender and women’s history. Above all, I am deeply interested in the study of rural communities in early modern Europe.
I will obtain my Ph.D. in History from Purdue University in summer 2010. The title of my Ph.D. dissertation is, “Women in Rural Society: Peasants, Patriarchy and Local Economy in Northeast France, 1659-1789”.
My dissertation explores how female peasants had an extremely significant position both in the market economy and within their households and communities. Their role in the circulation of capital and property through the credit system and the land market contradicts the common assumption that early modern women had no place and say in the public sphere. As the justice records indicate, female peasants were also very active in the defense of their assets, social position and prerogatives.
My findings undermine patriarchal ideology, indicative of a change in gender relations during the early modern period and contribute to a recent historiography analyzing the theory and practice of patriarchy. I will revise my dissertation for publication as a monograph during my stay at the EUI.
My next project is tentatively entitled, “Rural Communities and the Reformation: Confessionalisation, Social Discipline and Gender Relationships in Montbéliard, 1524-1793” and will explore the mechanisms of confessionalisation and acculturation in rural areas at the turn of the Reformation and forward.
I hold an M.A. and a B.A. in History with distinction from Université de Strasbourg (France).