Netherlands American Studies Association

Profiles

Christine Mertens (1994) specializes in the entanglements of freedom, race, mobility, and the law in the early nineteenth century US South. Her PhD project examines the engagement of free people of African descent with legislation to surveil and control their mobility in post-Revolutionary Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (1790-1830). Her research project forms part of the larger project “Racial Democracy: Challenges to Civic Democratic Ideals in American History,” sponsored by the Stichting Praesidium Libertatis I and supervised by Prof. dr. Damian Pargas, in conjunction with Leiden University. The project duration is four years, from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2024. Christine received her BA History with a specialization in American History in 2016 and her MA North American Studies in 2019, both from Leiden University. Christine is currently editor-in-chief of the NAS Review, the journal of NASA.