Dr. Lise Foisneau

Professional Background

Dr. Lise Foisneau received her PhD in Anthropology from the Aix-Marseille University (France), as well as a Master’s degree in History from Sciences Po Paris (France). Currently, Dr. Foisneau is also Associate Researcher at IDEMEC (CNRS/AMU), and has worked on historical and anthropological projects such as collecting testimonies of WWII Roma resistant fighters and survivors. She has published numerous historical and anthropological articles in scientific journals, such as Ethnologie française, Tracés, Health and Human Rights Journal, as well as book chapters.

Fellowship Research

Dr. Foisneau was awarded a 2019-2020 Alexander Grass Memorial Fellowship at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies for her research project, "The Resistance of French ‘Nomads’ (1939-1946)." During her fellowship tenure, Dr. Foisneau aims to write a history of Roma, Manouche, Yenish, Catalan Gypsies and Traveller’s resistance in France during World War II, while involving Roma communities in the process. Far removed from the mainstream representation of populations being passively displaced and locked up, this research project will gather evidence to show that Roma took a real part in resistance activities against Nazism throughout Europe: as smugglers, fighters, protesters and escapees. This research is also based on the analysis of 60 French divisional archives, testimonies collected from survivors, and the International Tracing Service (Arolsen Archives).

Residency Period : February 1, 2020, through July 31, 2020