Lisa Jahn

Lisa Jahn is a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor of American Studies at Barnard College. Her research combines ethnographic methods with feminist and critical social theory to explore racialization, gendered labor, care, coloniality, climate vulnerability and forced displacement. Her current research traces the systemic failures and exploitation of racialized care labor in New York City’s response to Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane María in 2017. The study centers a critique of the racialized violence within economies of care aimed at assisting populations displaced by environmental disasters, while simultaneously demonstrating how diasporic women create alternative modes of recovery through radical forms of care. This ongoing project reflects a broader research and teaching interest on issues related to Latinx/é studies, diaspora, transnational feminism, racism, climate vulnerability, and decolonial struggles. Her research has been supported by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research and the Mellon Foundation.