Alena Pirok

Associate Professor

Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from Scopus
20112025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

About

Alena Pirok is an Associate Professor of U.S. History at Georgia Southern University. She joined the faculty in 2017 at the Armstrong campus and moved to the Statesboro campus in 2023. Before coming to Georgia Southern Dr. Pirok was awarded a Ph.D. (2017) and a M.A. in History (2013) from the University of South Florida, and a B.A. in History from Southern Illinois University (2011).

Dr. Pirok’s research has explored how 20th century Americans used history, historical memory and lore to define their world. Her first monograph The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg explains how locals use of ghost stories to define the city as historical was foundational to the city’s restoration and its later historical interpretation. Pirok’s willingness to take both academic and non-academics’ use of the past seriously brings a fresh perspective to this much studied museum and illustrates how central ideas of haunting were to 20th and 21st century Americans’ perception of historical character and place. Shorter pieces in Southern Cultures, and in edited volumes, have looked at how Black and White Southerners have used ghost stories to establish and challenge historical memory of the antebellum and the Jim Crow South.

Her work has received positive reviews from readers, and audiences in and outside of academia. Dr. Pirok prides herself on being a historian of public history whose accessible prose and familiar topics make her work useful to a broad audience of academics, public history practitioners, members of the tourism industry, and history fans.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Education/Academic qualification

History, PhD, University of South Florida

Award Date: May 1 2017

History, MA, University of South Florida

Award Date: May 1 2013

History , BA, Southern Illinois University

Award Date: May 1 2011

Disciplines

  • United States History
  • Public History
  • American Popular Culture
  • Museum Studies

Research Interests

  • Historical Research
  • U.S. History
  • Public History
  • Historical Memory
  • Historical Sites
  • Museums
  • Southern History

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