Paul Cheney

Paul Cheney is the Sorin and Imran Siddiqui Professor of European History, Fundamentals, and the College at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on early modern France, its colonial empire, and the intersections of political economy, Enlightenment thought, and global capitalism. He holds a PhD from Columbia University (2002) and has taught at institutions including Columbia University and Queen’s University of Belfast. Cheney is a Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts and has held visiting positions at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

His education includes a PhD in History from Columbia University (2002) and prior studies in political economy at the New School for Social Research (MA 1998). His research explores how modern political and social forms emerged within traditional societies, particularly in old regime France and its colonies.

Research interests include: French history, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, Atlantic world history, political thought, and early modern capitalism. His major works include *Revolutionary Commerce: Globalization in the French Monarchy* (2010) and *Cul de Sac: Patrimony, Capitalism, and Slavery in French Saint-Domingue* (2017), translated into French in 2022. The latter examines a single plantation in Saint-Domingue to explore colonial capitalism and slavery.

Recent publications analyze Montesquieu’s political philosophy, the global dimensions of the French Revolution, and debates on capitalism and slavery. His work frequently bridges intellectual, economic, and social history methodologies. Awards include the 2018 Gilbert Chinard Prize for *Cul de Sac*.

Cheney has organized conferences on political economy in the Enlightenment era and collaborated with scholars in Paris on colonial plantation economies. He teaches courses such as *The French Revolution*, *Atlantic Worlds*, and *Political Economy and the Invention of Society*.