Andrew Maginn’s specializations are African Diaspora, Atlantic World, Latin American and Caribbean, Migration Studies, and Digital Humanities. His research centers on the examination of the legacies of slavery in the Atlantic World, predominantly in Latin America and the Caribbean, to further contemporary discussions on race, migration, human rights, social movements, and racial disparities. Recognizing that nineteenth-century narratives cannot be understood in a vacuum, Dr. Maginn shares through his scholarship that the wider African Diaspora, particularly Haitian, adds crucial understanding to the current national and global issues. There are multiple research projects currently under development, including a manuscript tentatively titled Haitians Abroad, that examines the interchange of Haitian families throughout the African Diaspora in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution to highlight the transnational black experience. Specifically, it centers on the kin and non-kin networks of the Louverture, Christophe, and Toussaint families in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, founded on language, religion, cultural traditions, and ideological principles. This research has been presented at several conferences, roundtables, and podcasts, and some of the information from this project can be found in the Haitians Abroad Digital Archive.
Beyond his research on Haiti, Dr. Maginn’s scholarship on the modern legacies of slavery includes its impact on local communities, public memory, the role of institutions (especially those in higher education), continued inequity, and the multifaceted fight for reparations. This has resulted in several public-facing digital humanities projects that review the legacies of slavery in Middle Tennessee through his time at the Sewanee: The University of the South. The Founding Funders Map Project, Save Sewanee Black History Trail, Locating Slavery’s Database, and the Black South Cumberland Database resulted from his time working with the Sewanee’s Race and Reconciliation program, the Roberson Project. Each of these projects furthers the discussion of how the impact of slavery on institutions of higher education and their surrounding communities. This research has continued in Dr. Maginn’s project, the Black Lives Matter Oral History Project, where his students have interviewed families, friends, and neighbors about the legacies of slavery and the impact of twenty-first-century social justice moments on their respective communities. This service and research laid the foundation for Dr. Maginn’s chapter on the fight for reparations in the United States in the forthcoming anthology Global Africa’s Triple Burden: Slavery, Colonialism, and Reparations (2024).
