Kathryn R. Dungy specializes in the study of race, class, and gender in the Atlantic World.  She graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College, and completed her M.A. and PhD. at Duke University in North Carolina. She currently serves as Chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of New Orleans. Before joining the faculty at UNO, Dr. Dungy taught at Saint Michael’s College [VT], the University of Vermont, and the New College of Florida.

The concept of freedom in the midst of slave societies intrigues Dr. Dungy and her scholarly career has explored the many aspects and iterations of remarkable populations found in the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. She has received numerous awards as well as research grants that have allowed her to study in a variety of locales throughout the Atlantic World. In her most  recent book, The Conceptualization of Race in Colonial Puerto Rico, 1800-1850 (Peter Lang Publishing, 2015), Dr. Dungy examines a distinctive population of free people of color in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico.  Dr. Dungy has also contributed to academic journals, edited volumes, and encyclopedias and has spoken at a wide range of conferences and scholarly meetings in the Americas and Europe.   

Dr. Dungy is currently working on two major projects. The first, Becoming Latin America: A Social and Cultural History of Colonial Latin America from pre-Columbian times to 1825, is a digital textbook that explores the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural early history of Latin America. It is pitched towards students with scant geographical, historical, or linguistic knowledge of the Caribbean/Latin American region.

The second, Creating a New Vision of African American History through Four Family Narratives, 1680-1964 – is a book-length project exploring class, racial consciousness, and social caste systems in the context of what many might consider an atypical African American family. The study considers four branches of an African American family tree that exercised unusual social, economic, and political leadership from the end of the seventeenth century through the present day. The family branches are all rooted in pre-revolutionary Virginia, but eventually embark on extraordinary journeys through Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Ontario, Canada, and Liberia. While they are part of the African-American historical legacy, the family stories also redefine its parameters, readily melding with the interconnectedness of Atlantic World history.

Dr. Dungy carries a wealth of experience in higher and international education. A world traveler since the age of six months, she has traveled to over 60 countries and territories and has lived in Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Spain. In addition, she is an alum of semester study abroad programs in San Jose, Costa Rica and Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic and has also spent academic study abroad and research time in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE).