Ben Wexler

As a PhD student in History at the Washington University in Saint Louis, my research examines the economic and political role of religious and ethnic minorities in Western Europe during modern state formation. My interests cover political, economic, and intellectual history, with a particular focus on the study of nationalism, race, and antisemitism. In recent work, I explore the legal and symbolic association of Jews in France with colonial slavery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

I  received a BA in History from McGill University in my hometown of Montreal, Canada. I am also part of the 2024 cohort for the Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Fellowship at WashU.