Michaela Feinberg

Michaela Feinberg is a PhD candidate who specializes in African history. Her research interests include theater, dance, and colonial education in French West Africa throughout the twentieth century. Her dissertation project, titled “Choreographing Empire: Theater, Folklore, and Colonial Education in Senegal,” examines the way that students and teachers established a new artistic tradition in French West Africa during and just after colonial rule. Her work illuminates how African students and teachers engaged in transnational and cross-cultural discourses within Africa and the diaspora to think critically about colonial rule and establish new artistic practices on their own terms. Her research is generously supported by the Yale MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.

Prior to Yale, Michaela graduated summa cum laude from Muhlenberg college with a major in History and minor in Anthropology.

Alongside her research, Michaela is a Lead Writing Partner at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning and a Graduate Assistant at the Yale Office of Fellowships. She is passionate about helping students develop their reading and writing skills. 

Michaela has served as the assistant reviews editor at The Journal of African History and is currently an editorial fellow at the African Studies Review.