Johann Le Guelte is a cultural studies scholar, Provost's Distinguished Faculty Fellow, and Assistant Professor of Francophone Studies in the Department of French and Francophone Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University in French and Francophone Studies (2019).

Le Guelte’s research focuses on visual culture, colonial history, propaganda studies, and critical race, diaspora and migration studies. His book in progress, Uncovering the Colonial Lens: Creation and Subversion of the French Visual Empire, examines the production and reception of colonial photographic propaganda to determine how state-sponsored photographs became official colonial information in the minds of many French citizens. His work explores the nuanced ways in which photography has been used both as a device for colonial propaganda in interwar France and a powerful mode of resistance for colonized peoples who used the camera to reclaim their subjugated identities. Le Guelte investigates the mechanisms of various photographic practices - anti-imperialist photographic networks, images of colonial violence, identification photographs and local photographic practices in West African colonial societies - and their impact on the competing visual realities of empire crafted in the interwar years.

Le Guelte is the recipient of the 2019 Alumni Association Dissertation Award from the Penn State Alumni Association and two awards for teaching excellence from Penn State. In his free time, he enjoys reading, craft beer, horror films, collecting records, and spending time with family and