John D French
| Title: | Professor |
| Office Location: | 223 Carr Bldg |
| Office Phone: | 919 684 2536 |
| Email Address: | jdfrench@duke.edu |
Education
- PhD Yale University, 1985
- MA University of Pittsburgh, 1978
- BA (Magna cum laude) Amherst College, 1975
Research Interests
An historian of modern Latin America with a specialization in Brazil, my most recent book entitled Drowning in Laws: Labor Law and Brazilian Political Culture was published in 2004. I was on residential fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2005-06) and at the Kellogg Institute at Notre Dame (Spring 2007)to work on my book entitled "The Origin of Brazil's Lula: From Trade Unionism to the Presidency." I am also finishing on a book entitled "Globalizing Protest and Policy: Neo-Liberalism, Worker Rights, and the Rise of Alt-Global Politics" that reflects ongoing research labor and globalization. Other research projects under development inclues "The Potential of Diasporic Dialogue: The Intersection of Afro-North America and Afro-Latin America in the Twentieth Century."
Awards/Recognitions
I have received major fellowships from: Fulbright-Hays (1981-1982, 2000), Inter-American Foundation (1981-83), Social Science Research Council (1981-83, 1991) the National Humanities Center (1995-96), the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2005-2006), and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame (Spring 2007). In addition, my external grants include: American Philosophical Society (1998), American Council of Learned Societies (1991), National Endowment for the Humanities (1998, 1991), National Historical Publications and Records Commission (1998-2000) and North-South Center (1994)
Miscellaneous
Since 1984, I have been co-coordinator of the Latin American Labor History Conference held in April of each year at Duke, and I served as Director of the Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies from 2001 to December 2005, and as Director of the Carolina and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies 2002-05. I also serve as Associate Editor for Latin America and the Caribbean for the journal Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas, under its new editor Leon Fink (University of Illinois-Chicago).
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- Visiting Fellowship at the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame for Spring 2007, January-May 2007
- Visiting Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, AY 2005-2006
- Award "in acknowledgment of and with much gratitude for your contribution in helping to restore democracy in Chile", from Juan Gabriel Vald鳬 Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, September, 2001
- Awarded a 12 month Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, January-December 2000
- Awarded the Latin American Studies Association Labor Section Award for Distinguished Scholarship, 2000
- Research grant, American Philosophical Society, May, 1999
- Awarded a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship for Brazil, Universidade Federal de Sergipe (declined), 1999
- Grant, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, May, 1998
- National Humanities Center Fellowship with funds from the Rockefeller Foundation for a project entitled: The Metalworkers of ABC, 1950-1980: Working Class Consciousness, Organization, and Ideology, 1995-1996
- Advanced Area Research Grant, Social Science Research Council, May, 1991
- Grant-in-Aid, American Council of Learned Societies, May, 1991
- Travel to Collections Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, May, 1991
- Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, 1981-1983
- Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, 1981-1982
- Learning Fellowship on Social Change, Inter-American Foundation, 1981-1983
- Newberry Library Mini-Institute in the New Social History at Yale University, 1981
- First and Second Prizes, Book Collecting Contest, Friends of the Amherst College Library, 1974
- New York State Regents' Scholarship, declined, 1971
- Rotary Club of Brighton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Spanish, 1971
- HISTORY 197S.02, Senior thesis seminar
Synopsis
- Carr 229, M 03:05 PM-05:35 PM
- HISTORY 312.01, Readings in latin amer hist
- Carr 229, Th 07:15 PM-09:45 PM
Recent Publications
Books- The Origin of Brazil's Lula: Building Movements in a World in Flux, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1950-1980 (2007). [PDF]
- J. D. French and Daniel James. "The Travails of Doing Labor History: The Restless Wanderings of John Womack Jr.." Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas 4:2 (2007): 95-116. [PDF]
- "Wal-Mart, Retail Supremacy, and the Relevance of Political Economy: The Intermestic Challenge of Contemporary Research (Academic, Agitational, and Constructive)." Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas 4:1 (2006): 33-40. [PDF]
- J.D. French, "Review of the documentary “Lula’s Brazil: The Management of Hope” Directed by Gonzalo Arijón (2005).". Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas 5:1 (Spring, 2008): 134-36. [PDF]
- "Review of Angus Wright and Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth: The Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil (Oakland: Food First Books, 2003)". Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas 4:1 (2007): 141-43. [PDF]