Lorelle D. Semley

Lorelle Denise Semley (born 1969) is an American historian of Africa specialized in modern West Africa, French imperialism, gender, and the Atlantic World. She is a professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross.

Career Semley completed a B.S. in French at the Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics in 1991. She earned a M.A. in African Studies at Yale University in 1995. Her dissertation was titled Kétu Identities: Islam, Gender, and French Colonialism in West Africa, 1850s-1960s. Semley's doctoral advisor was John Hunwick. She specializes in modern West Africa, French imperialism, gender, and the Atlantic World.

In 2020, Semley became the editor-in-chief of History in Africa, a scholarly journal of the African Studies Association.

Selected works