Dr Jennifer Keene

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Fulbright Senior Scholar

Media profile

For colonised and subjugated peoples throughout the world, the crucible of the First World War gave birth to new political identities that dramatically re-shaped the postwar world. The war became a pivotal moment when national identities formed, modern political agendas took shape, and political independence suddenly seemed possible.

Dr Jennifer Keene, a Professor in History at Chapman University in Orange, California is the recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Australian-American Commission. Dr Keene is a history graduate from George Washington University and Carnegie Mellon University and has published four books and many journal articles and essays on war history.

Dr Keene’s research in Australia aims to fill a gap in studies comparing Australia’s World War I experience to other nations, including a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldier’s experiences. She will be based in Canberra for six months from January 2009 to work closely with experts in Australian military history at the Australian Defence Force Academy, the National Museum of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. She will also deliver a number of guest lectures and seminars.

Her research will focus on Soldiers of the Empire: World War I and the World, analysing the experiences of soldiers who came from European Colonial and commonwealth holdings, as well as subjugated populations within combatant countries such as African American, aboriginal, Torres Strait islander, Native American and Maori soldiers.

“My main objective is to consider how the war shaped national, ethnic or racial identities,” explains Jennifer. “I want to examine how the war contributed to a new political dynamic, both domestically and internationally, that left a lasting imprint on soldiers, their societies, and the world”.

Her previous books on World War I have laid the groundwork for such a study. Doughboys, the Great War, and the Re-making of America, analyzed the ways in which American soldiers shaped the modern U.S. military and mobilized politically after the war to create the GI Bill of Rights, the most comprehensive social welfare program in American history. In True Sons of Freedom: The African American Experience in World War I, she examines how black soldiers fought for civil rights within the army.

Jennifer is currently recognised as the Wang-Franklin Professor, the highest faculty award for Chapman University. She has received a wide range of research grants and awards and received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1998 as a Visiting Professor at the Universite’ de Paris XII in France.