Faculty FrontDoor

Christopher Paolella

Christopher Paolella earned his doctorate in medieval history at the University of Missouri, Columbia in 2019. He currently researches the deep history of human trafficking across North Africa and Eurasia from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Era, which includes the early-medieval slave trade and late-medieval sex trafficking networks, as well as the intersections of unequal gendered power dynamics, group identity politics, and economic trends that drive human trafficking activities. His publications include:

"'For She Is Not to Work:' A Noble's Experience of Human Trafficking in the Viking Age" in Portraits of Medieval Europe, edited by Dr. Christian Raffensberger and Dr. Erin Thomas, forthcoming from Routledge Publishers.

"Human Trafficking in Medieval Europe: Slavery, Sexual Exploitation, and Prostitution" (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020), which is available through the Valencia College Library.

"Neither Slave nor Free: Classical Conceptions of Slavery and Gender, and Their Influence on the Germanic Kingdoms via the Church" Journal of the Western Society for French History, Vol. 43, (2015).

He has also presented his research at major national and international conferences, which include:

"'Of Vicious Lives and Men of Ill Fame:' Sex Traffickers and the Authorities of Medieval Europe" 54th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, April 12-13, 2019 in Sewanee, TN at the University of the South.

"'Putting Her Trust and Confidence in Him:' Sex Trafficking in Medieval Europe and the Enigma of the Bawd" Third Global Meeting: Slavery Past, Present, and Future, July 10-11, 2018 in Berlin, Germany at Indiana University Europe Gateway.

"The Goods, the Services, and the Currency of the Medieval Slave Trade" 82nd Annual Meeting of the Southern Historical Association, November 9-12, 2017 in Dallas, TX.

"Servi et Servi Dei: Slaves and Saints in Early-Medieval Hagiography" 52nd Annual International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 11-14, 2017 in Kalamazoo, MI at Western Michigan University.

"'Fruits of Obedience:' Catholic Perspectives on Authority and Order in the Reformation" Fourth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, June 22, 2016 in St. Louis, MO at Saint Louis University.

"'Neither Slave nor Free:' Classical Conceptions of Slavery and Gender, and Their Influence on the Germanic Kingdoms via the Church" Western Society for French History Annual Conference, November 6, 2015 in Chicago, IL.