Rate My Professor Kristen Block

University of Tennessee - Knoxville

History Cultural History History of Religion Modern History Gender Studies

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5.04/23/2026

Brings real-world relevance to learning.

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About Kristen

Kristen Block is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She serves as Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies interdisciplinary program and is affiliated with the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Block received her Ph.D. in History from Rutgers University in 2007, with fields of study in the Early Modern Atlantic World and Women's and Gender History, and her B.A. in History and Creative Writing from Beloit College in 1998. An expert in the history of the Atlantic World, her research primarily focuses on the Caribbean and the effects of colonial competition in the early modern Americas. She investigates how religion and slavery influenced life in colonial America, particularly through interactions among Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans that established social rules and norms. Block's scholarship emphasizes multilingual and inter-imperial entanglements in the early circum-Caribbean, exploring the intersections of mind, body, and spirit, and the methodological challenges in recovering the experiences of marginalized groups such as women, the lower classes, and enslaved people.