Dr. Andrea Frohne, Ph.D.
- Director, School of Interdisciplinary Arts
- Director, African American Research and Service Institute (AARSI)
- Full Professor, Art History of the African World, School of Art + Design
- Affiliate, African Studies Program
Areas of Expertise
- Black Life of the Ohio River Valley through the arts,
- Black Life in southeastern Ohio,
- Black life in Athens
- Art history
- African diaspora
- Arts of the Horn of Africa
- African American cemeteries
- Colonial New York City
- Contemporary African arts
- African art
- Mental illness
- NAMI Athens
- NAMI Southeast Ohio
Expert Bio
Dr. Andrea Frohne is professor and art historian of arts of the African World at Ohio University. She is the Director of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts, which is the Ph.D. program in the College of Fine Arts. She is also the Director of AARSI, the African American Research and Service Institute. Her first book is The African Burial Ground in New York City: Memory, Spirituality and Space (2015). Her second book is Contemporary Artists from the Horn of Africa: Encounters Beyond Borders through Conflict, Colonialism, and Modernity (forthcoming).
Her first book about the African Burial Ground in New York City analyzed the cemetery site via land surveys and colonial-era maps. It applied the stratigraphy of the site to the skeletal analysis of specific graves conducted at Howard University to bring forward heretofore unknown colonial-era enslaved Black life narratives. Contemporary artworks and memorials are analyzed to consider how Africa is remembered and honored.
Frohne's second book manuscript concerns conflict over land in the Horn of Africa in the northeast part of the African continent. It looks at artworks about migration into North America and Europe and return visits to Africa.
Her current research project concerns free People of Color across southern Ohio through the arts. She researches migration patterns of free People of Color from Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia who legally crossed the Ohio River and settled throughout southern Ohio. According to Frohne, rural, historically Black cemeteries, settlements and descendants are crucial for this research.
In terms of arts in health and community partnerships, Frohne is the President of the local affiliate called NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). She is the 2nd Vice President of the NAMI Ohio board at the state level. NAMI supports family members of loved ones with mental health issues. For additional volunteer work in the community, she serves on the History and Research committee of Mount Zion Black Cultural Center in Athens. She is a Research Volunteer at John Gee Black Historical Center in Gallipolis, Ohio.