Iris De Rode Biography: Early Life, Career Works, Awards & Net Worth
Iris de Rode (born in the Netherlands) is a Dutch historian who specialises in French involvement in the American War of Independence. She won the Prix Guizot. She studied at the University of Paris 8 and taught at Sciences Po in Paris from 2013 until 2022.
She was a fellow at the University of Virginia, Mount Vernon, and the American Philosophical Society.
Iris de Rode Biography
The sources investigated do not provide precise public information about Iris de Rode’s birth date. What is known is that she received her PhD in November 2019 from Université de Paris VIII.
Given typical academic timetables, one might deduce a birth year in the late 1980s or early 1990s, but without confirmation, this is only speculation.
Iris de Rode was raised in both the Netherlands and France. Her early upbringing in both nations provided her with a bilingual and bicultural base that would later be useful in her transatlantic historical studies.
She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history from the University of Amsterdam before pursuing her doctoral studies in France. Iris de Rode earned her undergraduate (B.A.) and master’s in history from the University of Amsterdam.
She received her PhD in History of International Relations from the Université de Paris VIII in November 2019. Her dissertation was named François-Jean de Chastellux (1734–1788): A soldier-philosopher in the Atlantic World during the Lumière era.
The PhD research was based on a unique archive find at Château de Chastellux in Burgundy, France, of over 6,000 unpublished documents by Chastellux, which served as the foundation for her dissertation.
Career
Iris de Rode has had a variety of academic and fellowship roles since earning her PhD. Beginning in 2013, she served as an adjunct faculty member at Sciences Po Paris (and Reims), teaching American and transatlantic history.
She is presently the David and Linda Gibson Postdoctoral Fellow in Democracy at UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, where she is creating public programs to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.
De Rode’s research delves into the often-overlooked French role in the American Revolution beyond Lafayette and Rochambeau, examining intellectual, scientific, military, and diplomatic networks.
Her publication on Chastellux is regarded as ground-breaking because it reveals how French officers engaged in cultural and scientific interchange with Americans in addition to fighting. She has won over 20 research fellowships from notable institutions such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the American Philosophical Society, and the Society of Cincinnati.
She also works in public history, cooperating with the National Park Service, the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, the Philadelphia Museum of the American Revolution, and the French Embassy in Washington, DC.
Publications and Awards
Her biography of Chastellux (published by Éditions Honoré Champion in 2022) received the Académie Française’s Prix Guizot, which is awarded to the finest historical book of the year.
She is currently working on a new English-language book titled En Route to Revolution (or variations on that theme) aimed at worldwide audiences.
Iris De Rode Personal Life
Iris de Rode is not married, she does have a partner named André Nakazawa. Her relationship status is not clearly stated, but it is evident that she is committed to her boyfriend.
According to her official biography, Iris de Rode and her spouse, André Nakazawa, relocated from Paris to Washington, D.C. in 2023 to be closer to archives and historic locations relevant to her work.
Iris De Rode Net Worth
There is no reliable publicly available information about Iris de Rode’s net worth. As a historian, her income is most likely derived from teaching, fellowships, research funding, and publications, rather than the commercial industry. As a result, any estimate of her net worth is speculative and unconfirmed.