Florida Internation University, BA 1999
Cornell University, MA 2002
University of Miami, PhD 2010

Monique Bedasse
Associate Professor of History
East Africa, African Diaspora, Caribbean, Decolonization, Transnational history, Intellectual and Political history, Pan-Africanism, Twentieth century
Professor Bedasse is a historian of Africa and the African diaspora, with a focus on East Africa and the Caribbean. Based on a deep interest in transnational histories, her work moves betwixt and between regions that have traditionally been calcified into separate fields of study. Her interests include the intellectual, political, and social history of decolonization, black internationalism and African diasporic politics.
Her first monograph, Jah Kingdom: Rastafarians, Tanzania, and Pan-Africanism in the age of Decolonization was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2017. Jah Kingdom is an intellectual, political and social history of how continental Africans from Tanzania and diasporic Africans from Jamaica worked together within the context of anti-colonial struggle. Specifically, it traces how Jamaican Rastafarians sought the ideological and practical realization of repatriation to Africa in post-independence Tanzania. It is a history that reveals both the promise and the limitations of diasporic solidarities and pan-African politics. Jah Kingdom was awarded the American Historical Association’s Wesley-Logan Prize for best book on the African Diaspora, and the Anna Julia Cooper and CLR James Award for best book in Africana Studies from the National Council for Black Studies. A Choice Outstanding Academic title, Jah Kingdom was also a finalist for the Albert Raboteau prize for best book in Africana religions.
Fellowships and Honors
- 2020 The Andrew Mellon BECHS Fellowship, University of Ghana-Legon (declined)
- 2018 Faculty Summer Research Seed Grant, Center for Humanities, Washington University
- 2017 Faculty Summer Research Seed Grant, Center for Humanities, Washington University
- 2013-2015 Post-Doctoral Fellowship, African and African American Studies, Washington University
- 2013 Faculty Award for Mentoring in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, Connecticut College
- 2013 Research Matters Award, Connecticut College
Books
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Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, October 2017
Articles
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“The Secret Life of Dudley Thompson: Race, Ethnic Nationalism, and Intelligence in East Africa, 1950- 1954” (in progress)
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“Rastafari, the Transnational Archive and Post-Colonial Caribbean Intellectual History”Small Axe: A Journal of Caribbean CriticismVolume 25, Number 1, March 2021 (No. 64)
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“AHR Conversation: Black Internationalism”American Historical ReviewVolume 125, Issue 5, December 2020, Pages 1699-1739
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‘To Set up Jah Kingdom’: Joshua Mkhululi, Rastafarian Repatriation and the Black Radical Network in Tanzania”Journal of Africana ReligionsVol. 1, Number 3 July 2013
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“Rasta Evolution: The Theology of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.”Journal of Black StudiesVol. 40 Number 5, May 2010
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“Reggae Aesthetics”Encyclopedia of African-American History and Culture2nd ed., 2005
Awarded the Wesley-Logan prize for best book in African Diaspora History by the American Historical Association, Awarded the Anna Julia Cooper and C.L.R. James Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publication in Africana Studies by the National Council for Black Studies, Finalist, Albert J. Raboteau Award for Best Book in Africana Religions, 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
Contact Information
Monique Bedasse
Associate Professor of History monique.bedasse@nyu.edu King Juan Carlos Center53 Washington Square South
Room 411
New York, NY 10012
Office Hours: By appointment only