Kelly Colvin

Kelly Colvin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts Boston, specializing in modern European and French history with a focus on gender, race, and empire. She holds a PhD from Brown University and previously taught at Brown, University of Maryland, and WPI.

• PhD, Brown University
• AB, Bowdoin College

Her research examines intersections of gender, politics, and culture in modern France, including:

• Postwar femininity commodification
• State-sponsored soft power through beauty standards
• Food culture as a lens for national identity debates
• Postcolonial representations in advertising
• Gendered citizenship post-enfranchisement

Professor Colvin's publications include two monographs and peer-reviewed articles analyzing:

• 1950s-1960s transnational feminine ideals
• 1970s-1980s French food politics
• 1944-1954 gendered cultural norms