Fulbright Scholar Imen Boussayoud Expands Research on Enslaved Atlantic Peoples

Imen Boussayoud with curly sunlit hair and oversized dark sunglasses stands outdoors on an elevated stone scenic overlook, wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt and light blue jeans with a white belt. She holds a beige notebook and pen in one hand while running her other hand through her hair, with a vast blue ocean, distant mountains, and a clear sky forming the backdrop behind her. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Ph.D. candidate in History, Imen Boussayoud, received a U.S. Fulbright Student Program award for this academic year. She will be based at the Centro de Humanidades (CHAM), a humanities research unit at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where she will collaborate with scholars examining the connections between oppressive structures and marginalized peoples across Atlantic geographies and time periods.

Boussayoud’s dissertation focuses on the social history of the enslaved Indigenous Canary Islander and Northwest and Western African peoples who sought freedom in the early period of Atlantic colonialism and the slave trade.

“Receiving the Fulbright and the opportunity it allows for me to conduct international research on this scale is a true gift,” says Boussayoud.

Boussayoud has already conducted research in archives in the Canary Islands and mainland Spain. Her Fulbright grant will allow her to extend that work into Portuguese archives, giving her the opportunity to examine the other side of the relationship between the two archipelagoes.

Imen Boussayoud with wavy auburn hair stands in the doorway of a grand, ornate wooden structure featuring intricate wood carvings, decorative balustrades, and multi-tiered interior balconies. — Imen Boussayoud at the Archivo General de Simancas, Simancas, Spain

Beyond CHAM’s libraries, she will be researching at the Portuguese National Archive, Torre do Tombo, also in Lisbon. There, she plans to examine royal correspondences, contracts, and administrative records relating to the Atlantic Islands, a central focus of her research, as well as their connections to Portuguese settlements on the African coast.

Boussayoud will also spend time in Madeira, conducting research at the Arquivo Regional e Biblioteca Pública da Madeira. There, she hopes to trace the social lives and mobility of manumitted peoples across Madeira and the Canary Islands through records of marriages, childbirths, and business dealings.

The Fulbright award is highly competitive, requiring a written application and interview by a selection committee. Candidates are evaluated on their proposed study or research plans as well as on academic and professional excellence, social engagement, and ambassadorial qualities. Boussayoud is one of 39 Brown students and recent alumni selected for a Fulbright scholarship this academic year.

A close-up view of an aged, yellowed manuscript page filled with dense, dark cursive handwriting in ink, featuring natural discoloration, wear, and light stains along its edges. — At the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

During her time at Brown, she has also received the Middle East Studies Research Travel Award.

Before coming to Brown, Boussayoud earned her undergraduate degree in History with a focus on Adolescent Education, exploring research on gender formations and expressions of sexuality in the Iberian Atlantic world.

“As a born and bred Brooklynite, I’m a proud product of New York City public schools and an alumna of CUNY Hunter College. New York City is the world’s city, a site of refuge, connection, and creation for so many marginalized and immigrant communities across its history. I’m honored to have the opportunity to use this Fulbright award to practice the ethos of international bond-building that is the bedrock of the city I’m from,” says Boussayoud.