Beside New York, Aberdeen (Scotland), and London, I completed my higher education in Paris and Lyon where I took the Agrégation exam. Going through all those varied educational systems gave me a great deal of flexibility and understanding of intellectual debates. I felt close to the French "social History" and to what some people called "socio-history", before I came to Scotland where I discovered imperial history. Then, taking African history classes at Columbia University really forced me into the realm of poststructuralist theory. I became fascinated both by feminist anthropology and by historical case studies of gender relationships in Africa. Now, I am heading to Côte d'Ivoire for a two months fieldwork. This research delves into the gendered aspects of Ivorian nationalism, which brings me to a wide set of archival material. I hope my stay in Côte d'Ivoire, adding to a previous stay in Burkina Faso, will confirm my wish to settle and work in West Africa in the following years.
