Alisha M. Topete-Cromwell

Contact Alisha M. Topete-Cromwell

843-349-2486 acromwell@coastal.edu

Brittian Hall 361

Fall 2020 Office Hours
Tuesdays/Thursdays(Virtual) 11:00am - 12:00pm and 2:00 - 3:00pm;
or by appointment. 
*Email for an appointment. 

Biography

Alisha M. Topete-Cromwell is an assistant professor of history with research and teaching interests in the 19th century Atlantic World. She focuses on women, capitalism and slavery. Her most recent publication, “The Gendered Nature of Atlantic World Marketplaces: Female Entrepreneurs in the 19th Century American Lowcountry” was published in Female Entrepreneurs in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Global Perspective and focuses on the economic relationships between elite and enslaved women in Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. Through the international connections she made working on this chapter, Professor Topete-Cromwell became a member of ReWomen (Researching Women in Management and Enterprise Network), who are engaged with developing the academic field of women in business. In keeping with the theme of Atlantic World women and the economics of slavery, her current project uses archival records, census data, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map the residences of slaveholding women and their enslaved workers in the American South, the Caribbean, and Africa. This research connects the American South to the Atlantic World in order to exemplify how elite and enslaved women established economic relationships that transcended their geographic boundaries and that these women were major factors in their local economies. She will be presenting a portion of this research at the XIX World Economic History Congress in Paris, 2022. Professor Topete-Cromwell is also investigating the use of female head-basket carrying among Gullah Geechee market women in the American Lowcountry as a form of skilled labor derived from Africa. She will present this research at the Southern Historical Association's annual meeting in 2021. Professor Topete-Cromwell looks forward to expanding her academic, teaching, and service projects as part of the Coastal Carolina University community. Go Chants!

Education

Ph.D., History, University of Georgia, 2017;

M.A., Public History, University of South Carolina, 2008;

Dual B.A., in History and Anthropology, San Francisco State University, 2005

Interesting Facts

Dr. Topete-Cromwell was a non-traditional, first-generation student. 

Teaching Areas

American History, African History, Atlantic World History, World Civilizations, Public History, Slavery, and Capitalism

Research Areas

19th Century Atlantic World, Slavery, Capitalism, Women's and Gender Studies