Staci Swiney successfully defends her doctoral dissertation

Saturday, May 15, 2021

The Department of History is delighted to announce that we have a new alumna: Dr. Staci Swiney successfully defended her dissertation, “Radicals on the Move: French Migrants in the United States, 1850-1900,” on April 30, 2021. Using French migration as a lens, Dr. Swiney’s work illustrates the interconnectedness and continuities of radical movements in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. By examining French migrants, Dr. Swiney persuasively argues that many of the connective threads between mid-nineteenth century socialist colonies like those in Texas, the Paris Commune, the First International, the Knights of Labor, the Socialists Labor Party, and the anarchist were the French migrants themselves who fostered connections with Polish, German, Italian, and American groups. Essentially, the same basic ideology served as the bedrock of a multinational movement developed and fostered by French migrants to the United States, shaping Franco-American societies on either side of the Atlantic. Congratulations, Dr. Swiney!