About me...and my research
My name is Tara Reyelts. I am a PhD candidate in my fourth year at Michigan State University. My major field is African History and my proposed dissertation is titled "Gendering of Law and Justice in Precolonial and Colonial Ogidi, Igboland, 1890-1960."
For non-specialists, I study the [intersecting] legal and gender histories of a particular town in southeastern Nigeria, called Ogidi, in the transition from indigenous Igbo society to British colonial rule. Ogidi is probably most famous for being the birthplace of one of the world's most famous authors and intellectuals, Chinua Achebe. My academic advisor, Prof. Nwando Achebe, is the daughter of the late great author.
Besides studying history, I have been involved in other activities:
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I am the African Studies Association (ASA) Women's Caucus Treasurer.
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I have been the Graduate Assistant Coach for the MSU Women's DI Hockey team since 2015
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I am a MSU Writing Center consultant (all MSU students reading this should check out the Writing Center if you have not already)
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I have been a TA for several undergraduate interdisciplinary humanities and social science courses (both in class and online) since 2014
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I was the TA for a graduate student course on international social science research grant writing in 2017
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I worked as an editorial assistant for the Journal of West African History, of which my advisor Prof. Nwando Achebe is the Founding Editor-in-Chief, from 2015 to 2017
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