Sophie Mwaisela

Hi! My name is Sophie Mwaisela. I am a senior majoring in World History and minoring in English. My focuses lie in colonial and postcolonial history and literature. My research interests include anything related to the humanities, especially with an interdisciplinary approach. My current research project is my senior thesis, which researches Swiss involvement in the Scramble for Africa and surrounding contemporary debates. Thanks to the Gelfman International Summer Fund through CURF, this summer I traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to conduct archival research. 

I have spent the past two years as a student worker at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts, and completed an internship there through CURF's Summer Humanities Internship Program. I am interested in library, print, and book history, both from a researcher's and librarian's perspective. Currently, I am working with Dr. Whitney Trettien on her project researching publications printed by prisoners at the Eastern State Penitentiary. I am more than happy to talk to anyone interested in humanities-based research, the History thesis program, and library and archival work!

• Research Assistant for Dr. Whitney Trettien's project "Printing in Prisons" (Summer 2023)
• History Honors Thesis Program (Summer and Fall 2023)
• Gelfman International Summer Fund (Summer 2023)
• History Department Research Funding (Summer 2023)
• Summer Humanities Internship Program, CURF (Summer 2022)