Erika Vause

Erika Vause is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. John's University. She specializes in the social and cultural history of law and economics in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France.

• Ph.D., 2012, University of Chicago (History)
• M.A., 2005, University of Chicago (History)
• B.A., 2004, University of California, Berkeley (History and English)

Her research examines intersections between economic systems and penal institutions, particularly debt imprisonment and bankruptcy. She has published extensively in journals like Law and History Review and French Historical Studies, with a focus on debt, credit, and commercial honor. Her current project explores the discourse of "prévoyance" (foresight) in French capitalism and colonial contexts.

Selected Publications & Projects:

• In the Red and in the Black: Debt, Dishonor, and the Law in France Between Revolutions (University of Virginia Press, 2018)
• Co-edited volume The Cultural History of Money and Credit: A Global Perspective (Lexington Books, 2016)
• Research on debtors' newspapers, agricultural reform, and financial ethics in 19th-century France

She co-organizes the biennial Richard Robinson Business History Workshop and teaches graduate courses on European/global history and undergraduate courses including Age of Revolution, Crime and Punishment in Modern Europe, and History of Modern France.