Kimberly White

dark skinned woman with full lips, high cheekbones, and shoulder length box-braids in a blue t-shirt, with a grocery store behind her

Ph.D. Candidate

I combine political theory and law to study 20th century historical questions about illegality, statecraft, empire, citizenship and migration. In my first major paper I interrogated the Reagan administration's use of international law to justify the 1983 Grenada invasion. My current project explores Afro- and Indo- Caribbean migrants' relationships with each other and with the state — local, state, and federal — in late 20th century New York City. It foregrounds U.S. and British imperial regimes, both of which enormously impacted Caribbean migrants lives' and strategies for combatting legal control. 

In future research, I am excited to think about the environmental impact of empire and migration. 

 

Dissertation Committee: Karen Tani (chair), Amy Offner, Eiichiro Azuma, and Anne Norton (political theory)

 

Education

M.A., History, University of Pennsylvania

J.D., Berkeley Law School

B.A., Social and Environmental Justice, CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies