Rachel Anne Gillett is assistant professor of cultural history at Utrecht University where she teaches modern Europe and empire. Her research focuses on race in France, on popular culture, and on the black Atlantic from a French perspective. Prior to joining the faculty at Utrecht, Gillett graduated from Northeastern University with a Ph.D. in world history and taught and served as the assistant director for undergraduate studies in the history and literature concentration at Harvard University.

At the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Gillett will produce the foundation of a new project investigating how members and groups in the global, Francophone, African diaspora shaped the concept and practice of liberty and freedom. She will analyze the growing volume of work on Black radical and international networks, as well as how creators use music, art, and grassroots narratives to make intellectual and political anti-colonial and emancipatory claims.