Michael Becker

Michael Becker is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of History at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also serves as project manager and associate editor for the Slavery, Law, and Power Project. He holds a Ph.D. in Caribbean History from Duke University.

Research Focus: Becker's scholarship examines 18th-19th century British and French Caribbean societies, with emphasis on enslaved people's political agency, cultural formations, and resistance strategies. His current book project, Practices of Freedom: Everyday Struggles for Autonomy, Community, and Power in Jamaica, 1780-1840, analyzes how marginalized communities negotiated autonomy within oppressive systems. Additional research domains include African diaspora studies and digital humanities applications in historical research.

Publications Overview: Recent interdisciplinary publications focus on terrorism dynamics, political violence, and counterterrorism strategies, employing empirical methods to analyze extremist behavior, policy impacts, and global security patterns across diverse geopolitical contexts.

Awards and Grants:

• Fellowship from the American Historical Association
• Fulbright Program grant
• Research fellowship at John Carter Brown Library
• Princeton University Libraries research fellowship

Projects: Leads the Slavery, Law, and Power Project (slaverylawpower.org), a digital initiative preserving and analyzing historical legal documents related to slavery and power structures in the Atlantic world.