Prior to pursing graduate studies in French literature and cultural studies, my life was comprised of various artistic endeavors. Even though the focus of my work was devoted to my craft as a classically trained flutist, both photography and videography, as well as the art of baking, each served as outlets that would ultimately become a part of my multifaceted and creative identity as an artist. Once I committed to seeking out an academic career in French Studies, it was imperative to find a way forward in which my past experiences and my research interests would ultimately converge. A fanatic of both late-baroque and classical styles of 18^th century music, it is without surprise that I began to explore the life and music of composer Joseph Bologne, le Chevalier de Saint-George. Despite being mostly known as the son of a Guadeloupean slave who – against all odds - would eventually become one of the most popular composers in the latter half of 18^th century France, the ways in which his many talents brought about such an adventurous and fantastical-like life is what I found the most fascinating. In addition to his musical works, Saint-George was not only a virtuoso violinist, but also a celebrated dancer, as well as considered to be the best fencer in all of Europe. Although studying the flute and photographing my most recent baking project pales in comparison to competitively weilding a sword after a night of performing music for Marie-Antoinette and her court at Versailles, the more I learned about Saint-George, the more I appreciated and resonated with the way in which he fully dedicated himself to the things in life that were most important to him.

The lens through which I have chosen to study the music and life of Saint-George is also very personal as it is based on both my political convictions and outlook on life. Following the murder of George Floyd in the Spring of 2020, I made the concious decision to live the rest of my life through the mindset of an antiracist epistemology, in that there is no such thing as being “non-racist”, but only having the choice between being “racist” or “antiracist”. This would also become the major framework for my first major creative endeavor in writing. Entitled Les privileges et les préjugés auprès de la noblesse française : le métissage de Joseph Bologne le Chevalier de Saint-George, my master’s thesis challenges the notion that Saint-George had societal privilege as a chevalier by reexamining reforms within the French nobility during the latter half of the 18^th century. Postulating that mixed-race sons of rich plantation owners in colonies with access to wealth posed a threat to the purity of the nobility, I further challenge the current narrative that Saint-George was an unsuccessful opera composer by demonstrating how his positionality as a threat to the nobility reflects in Melchior Grimm’s famously racist critique claiming that the première of his opera La Fille Garçon (1787) was a failure due to his inherent “lack of ingeniousness” as a mixed-race man. As a result, my work allowed for me not only to honor my daily commitment in calling into question and decentering the privilege of my own Whiteness, but, more importantly, also make visible the persistent nature in which colonial thought continues to influence the narrative and deprive the genius of historical figures of color, like Saint-George, to this day.