Lacy Murphy

Lacy holds a BA in French from Truman State University and an MA in art history from WashU where she is currently pursuing her PhD. Lacy’s dissertation addresses the visual culture of France and colonial Algeria from the interwar period to Algerian independence (1918-1962). In her dissertation, Lacy seeks to identify the various ways that the French state used visual media to advance colonial ambitions in Algeria and to reconstitute a history of Algerian nationalism and protest culture. Through this process, Lacy aspires to determine the extent to which French colonialism shaped the practice and application of Islam in Algeria and, vice-versa, the extent to which Islamic practice in Algeria shaped the strategies of the French colonial empire. Lacy is currently a graduate fellow at WashU’s Center for the Humanities and has been named the Mark S. Weil and Joan Hall Weil Professional Development Fellow. She will complete her fellowship at the Saint Louis Art Museum in the spring of 2023.