Pamela Ballinger

Prof. Pamela Ballinger is the Fred Cuny Chair in the History of Human Rights at the University of Michigan's Department of History. She held an External Senior Fellow position at FRIAS (Marie S. Curie FCFP) from October to December 2021. Her expertise spans human rights, forced migration, fascism studies, and modern Mediterranean/Balkan history.

Educated at Stanford University (B.A. Anthropology), Cambridge University (M.Phil.), Johns Hopkins University (M.A. Anthropology, joint Ph.D. in Anthropology & History), her work bridges disciplinary boundaries. She has been awarded prestigious fellowships including the Rome Prize (American Academy in Rome) and ACLS grants.

Her research focuses on displacement narratives, refugee experiences, and the intersection of memory/identity with political structures. Major publications include History in Exile (2003), La Memoria dell’Esilio (2010), and The World Refugees Made (2020). Her articles appear in Austrian History Yearbook, Journal of Refugee Studies, and others.

Awardees include:

• American Academy in Rome Rome Prize
• NEH Fellowship
• SSRC Fellowship

Her work has been supported by major institutions including Stanford's CASBS, Fulbright Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.