Nathan Grau
PhD, Harvard University

Welcome! I am a historian of imperialism and human rights with a focus on the modern histories of France, Francophone Africa, and Southeast Asia. My research interests include the transnational history of decolonization; the contested evolution of "self-determination" and the founding of the United Nations; and the relationship between law, race, and violence in the French Empire. For this work, I have conducted oral history interviews and multi-lingual archival research in France, Madagascar, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
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From 2022-24, I was an Ernest May Predoctoral Fellow in History and Policy at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School and was an affiliate at Harvard's Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies. I have also worked as a graduate researcher in the cluster on Identity Politics at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; a Fulbright scholar at the Institut des Sciences sociales du politique (Université Paris-Nanterre); and a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow in Grand Strategy at the Notre Dame International Security Center.
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I received my PhD in History from Harvard University in 2025, a joint MA-MSc in International and World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2017, and a BA in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from New York University in 2015. Before my doctoral studies, I commissioned in the United States Army Reserve and have since served in a variety of capacities including in Information Operations, as a Battalion Intelligence Officer, and in Company Command.
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When not teaching or doing research, I am an enthusiastic baseball watcher and tiki-themed drink mixer. I have led friends and colleagues alike on "Mai Tai tours" of Paris, San Francisco, New York, and Boston.