Elaine Sullivan
Position title: Assistant Professor of African Cultural Studies
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Email: eesullivan5@wisc.edu
Address:
208 Conrad A. Elvehjem Building

Education
B.A. Yale University, 2010
M.A. University of California, Los Angeles, 2015
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2020
Research Interests
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, museum and curatorial studies, colonialism, decolonial and postcolonial theory, Luba histories and identities.
Biography
I am an interdisciplinary scholar of the arts of Africa, concentrating on Central African art histories and critical museum studies. My research focuses on historical and contemporary arts from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their display in museums around the world, especially at Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa. I am currently working on my first book manuscript, which addresses how contemporary Congolese artists grapple with difficult pasts and local memorial practices in their own creative processes.
After receiving my PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA’s department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, I joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a postdoctoral curatorial fellow, before leaving for a research position at the University of Johannesburg. I integrate my professional experiences in American museums and with institutions on the African continent into my teaching and research, connecting students with issues that artists and art world professionals are grappling with today.