Krug began teaching history at George Washington University in 2012. Krug received financial support from the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, leading to the publication of her book
Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom.
Fugitive Modernities Krug is the author of
Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom. The book is about the
Quiçama people in
Angola and in other places, especially
Brazil. The book was a finalist for the
Frederick Douglass Prize and the
Harriet Tubman Prize. In
Fugitive Modernities, Krug engages in a "rigorous examination of identity formation" of
Kisama, a mountainous region in
Angola that became a destination for those fleeing the
slave trade in the late 16th century. Krug's book was the first history of the Kisama region. She argued that "Kisama allows us to imagine a more humane and less brutalized form of interpersonal relationship in which the structures erected by states to constrain us are overcome in favor of shared liberation."
Racial identity controversy Krug has offered various narratives concerning her race and ethnicity. She has said that she is half
Algerian-American and half
German-American. She has also said that she is a
Bronx-bred
Afroboricua Her September 3 blog post
went viral. By the close of that day, "a now-infamous video of Krug calling herself 'Jess La Bombalera' and speaking in a D-list imitation
Bronx accent was all over the internet". Figueroa, believing that Krug "took up some of the very few—very few—resources and spaces that there are available to Black and Latino scholars" and used them to advance herself, called for "a form of restitution for the things that she [Krug] took. It's egregious." Figueroa also noted that Krug had falsely claimed that her parents had been
drug addicts and her mother a
sex worker; Figueroa described Krug's actions as "preying on the white imagination, [pulling] from some of the worst
stereotypes that there are about black people and Puerto Rican people, and using that as a cloak for her identity". Describing Krug as a "minstrel act",
Illinois State University's Touré F. Reed asserted that Krug did not appropriate legitimate black culture but rather its "racist caricature".
Duke University Press, the publisher of Krug's
Fugitive Modernities, said that all proceeds from her book will be donated to a fund that will assist black and Latino scholars.
Resignation Following Krug's disclosure of her misrepresentation, the George Washington University History Department asked her to resign her
tenured professorship, stating: "With her conduct, Dr. Krug has raised questions about the veracity of her own research and teaching". GWU cancelled Krug's classes after the scandal broke. On September 9, 2020, GWU confirmed that Krug had resigned from the university. == See also ==