Sean Kelley

Professor Sean Kelley is a historian of Atlantic slavery and the transatlantic slave trade at the University of Essex's School of Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies. Currently on research leave for 2024-2025, his scholarship examines American involvement in the slave trade across two centuries, highlighted by his 2023 Yale University Press monograph American Slavers. He maintains active roles in international collaborative research initiatives and postgraduate supervision.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Texas

Research Focus: Professor Kelley's work centers on the lived experiences of enslaved Africans and the structural frameworks of the transatlantic slave trade. His research integrates maritime history, mercantile networks, and narrative analysis to explore New World slavery, African diasporic identity, and global historical methodologies. Key contributions examine port cities, intra-American slave trades, and biographical recovery of enslaved individuals.

Publication Trends: His recent scholarship (2016-2025) demonstrates evolving methodological approaches, progressing from traditional archival research to digital humanities applications. Publications reveal consistent focus on American participation in the slave trade, with increasing attention to West African perspectives, consumer markets, and the development of biographical databases. His work bridges economic, cultural, and maritime history through comparative analysis of Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.

Supervision and Funding: Professor Kelley currently supervises Ph.D. candidate Jayne Louise Bunnag and has recently graduated students including Randa Sellali (Ph.D., 2022) and Jake Painter (M.A., 2022). His research is supported by significant grants from the British Academy (2025), University of Bonn (2024), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (2019) for projects examining early Atlantic slave systems and biographical recovery of enslaved Africans.

Collaborative Initiatives: He co-founded the global Freedom Narratives Project to collect African autobiographical testimonies and served as UK Principal Investigator for the Documenting Africans in Trans-Atlantic Slavery (DATAS) Project, which created an international biographical database of enslaved individuals through collaboration across four continents.