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DR. JENNIFER FREDETTE
SEPTEMBER MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Ohio University
Department of Political Science
Member since 2005
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Jennifer Fredette is an Associate
Professor of Political Science at Ohio University. Her research focuses on the
limits of citizenship, which she explores through such themes as law and
identity, legal consciousness, and legal mobilization. She earned her Ph.D. in
Political Science at the University of Washington in Seattle, studied at
Sciences Po-Paris in 2006, and was a visiting research fellow at Sciences
Po-Bordeaux in 2008. Her first book,
Constructing Muslims in France:
Elite Discourse, Public Identity, and the Politics of Citizenship
(Temple
University Press, 2014), explores the disconnect between how Muslims and French
elites discuss citizenship, identity, and belonging. Her work has been published
in
Studies in Law, Politics, and Society and Law and
Social Inquiry
. Dr. Fredette spent Spring of 2017 as a visiting researcher
at the Université des Antilles (LC2S), where she conducted fieldwork as part of
a project examining social movements, labor, and law in Martinique. In the
summer of 2019, she carried out fieldwork interviewing Antilleans living in
Paris. She is now busy at work on her second monograph, which will be on the
French Caribbean.
WHY DID YOU BECOME A POLITICAL SCIENTIST?
I enjoy researching and writing about
power and resistance.
WHY DID YOU JOIN APSA AND WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO STAY INVOLVED?
I initially joined APSA because I was
thinking about the job market, and APSA offered the widest interview opportunities.
I continue to stay involved because I really appreciate the connections and
scholarly exchanges I get to make through the French Politics Group. Folks at
FPG really helped me to get my career off the ground, and I owe a lot to them!
WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF BEING A POLITICAL SCIENTIST?
No different than it is for any other
academic: knowing most of my students will be graduating with enormous amounts
of debt; fighting for funding and writing time at every turn.
IF YOU COULD GIVE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO SOMEONE IN THEIR GRADUATE/UNDERGRADUATE YEARS, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
Take care of yourself. You are worthy, and
so is your physical and mental health.
OUTSIDE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOURSELF.
My excellent colleague Allison Rank (SUNY
Oswego) and I are writing a scholarly piece about Hermione Granger as an
antidote to and warning against shallow girl-empowerment narratives.