Dr. Perry Helps Increase Knowledge About World History
http://www.pcwomensjournal.com/articles/9202/1/Dr-Perry-Helps-Increase-Knowledge-About-World-History/Page1.html
Justin Bolton
Justin Bolton is a history and communication student at East Carolina University. By Justin Bolton
Published on 01/10/2012
Dr. Kennetta Hammond Perry, 32, and an Assistant Professor of history at East Carolina University, is at a high point in her career. Perry is teaching a new class this semester, as well as writing a book and working with the ECU History Graduate program.
Perry has her doctorate degree in Comparative Black History from Michigan State University, and over the spring semester 2012, she will utilize her expertise while teaching Black Europe. She summarizes this course as bringing together two worlds that are typically not associated with each other.
“I want my students to think about people of African descent outside the U.S. I really want people to think about race and racism outside the U.S.”
Encouraging students to explore the past is not new for Perry, who has taught a range of other courses, including World History. According to her bio page on the East Carolina University website, she studies and teaches “Atlantic history with a particular emphasis on transnational race politics, empire, migration and movements for citizenship among people of African descent in Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.”
When Perry came up with the idea for her new class she knew that there was a good chance that she could be able to teach it.
“The history department allows faculty to propose specialized new courses to kind of ‘spice up’ the curriculum to give students different course offerings,” says Perry. “I am hoping we can permanently add it to the catalog.”
Perry would like for her students to take a lot of things from the new class, but there is one thing she hopes they will take away above all.
“I always say I want to change the color of European History,” says Perry. “We sort of think about it as one color, and it has many colors in the same way American History has many colors.”
The title of the book she's working on is “London is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Belonging.”
“It is basically looking at the experiences of Afro-Caribbean migrates who came to Britain after World War II. Because they migrated from parts of the British Empire, they had citizenship,” says Perry. The ECU bio pages further note the book explores that citizenship and how the new citizens were able to “fashion a Black British identity” and “make claims on their rights.”
This month, the Journal of British Studies will publish an article written by Perry, which looks at the Little Rock Desegregation Case, and “the ways in which both black and white Briton use that case in 1957 to sort of talk about their own racial politics,” says Perry.
Perry extends her work further as she is helping establish a new graduate program at ECU.
“We’re also trying to build an Atlantic World graduate program,” says Perry.
To help with her busy schedule, Perry has a graduate assistant, Matthew Wester, 22.
“I really enjoy working for Dr. Perry,” says Wester. “I am learning a lot about what it is like to be a university-level professor and professional historian, which is great because I am interested in pursuing one or both careers after graduate school.”
As for anyone considering taking a class with Dr. Perry, she asks one thing of her students.
“I guess the one thing I try to convey on day one is to enter a history class with an open mind."
Dr. Kennetta Hammond Perry, 32, and an Assistant Professor of history at East Carolina University, is at a high point in her career. Perry is teaching a new class this semester, as well as writing a book and working with the ECU History Graduate program.
Dr. Kennetta Hammond Perry, 32, and an Assistant Professor of history at East Carolina University, is at a high point in her career. Perry is teaching a new class this semester, as well as writing a book and working with the ECU History Graduate program.Perry has her doctorate degree in Comparative Black History from Michigan State University, and over the spring semester 2012, she will utilize her expertise while teaching Black Europe. She summarizes this course as bringing together two worlds that are typically not associated with each other.
“I want my students to think about people of African descent outside the U.S. I really want people to think about race and racism outside the U.S.”
Encouraging students to explore the past is not new for Perry, who has taught a range of other courses, including World History. According to her bio page on the East Carolina University website, she studies and teaches “Atlantic history with a particular emphasis on transnational race politics, empire, migration and movements for citizenship among people of African descent in Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.”
When Perry came up with the idea for her new class she knew that there was a good chance that she could be able to teach it.
“The history department allows faculty to propose specialized new courses to kind of ‘spice up’ the curriculum to give students different course offerings,” says Perry. “I am hoping we can permanently add it to the catalog.”
Perry would like for her students to take a lot of things from the new class, but there is one thing she hopes they will take away above all.
“I always say I want to change the color of European History,” says Perry. “We sort of think about it as one color, and it has many colors in the same way American History has many colors.”
The title of the book she's working on is “London is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Belonging.”
“It is basically looking at the experiences of Afro-Caribbean migrates who came to Britain after World War II. Because they migrated from parts of the British Empire, they had citizenship,” says Perry. The ECU bio pages further note the book explores that citizenship and how the new citizens were able to “fashion a Black British identity” and “make claims on their rights.”
This month, the Journal of British Studies will publish an article written by Perry, which looks at the Little Rock Desegregation Case, and “the ways in which both black and white Briton use that case in 1957 to sort of talk about their own racial politics,” says Perry.
Perry extends her work further as she is helping establish a new graduate program at ECU.
“We’re also trying to build an Atlantic World graduate program,” says Perry.
To help with her busy schedule, Perry has a graduate assistant, Matthew Wester, 22.
“I really enjoy working for Dr. Perry,” says Wester. “I am learning a lot about what it is like to be a university-level professor and professional historian, which is great because I am interested in pursuing one or both careers after graduate school.”
As for anyone considering taking a class with Dr. Perry, she asks one thing of her students.
“I guess the one thing I try to convey on day one is to enter a history class with an open mind."