Joel Suarez

Joel Suarez serves as Assistant Professor of History and Social Studies within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, holding dual appointments in the Department of History and the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies. His research examines critical intersections of labor, freedom, and social transformation in modern American history.

His scholarly work centers on two major book projects: The Labor of Liberty: Work and the Problem of Freedom in American History, which analyzes evolving conceptual relationships between work and freedom amid abolition, industrialization, and deindustrialization; and a global labor history of the Volcker Shock investigating how debt crises reconstituted working-class families across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the United States. His methodological approaches span intellectual history, political economy, and transnational frameworks with emphasis on class, race, and gender dynamics.

Professor Suarez teaches foundational courses in labor history, intellectual history, and social theory. His educational background includes a PhD in History from Princeton University, followed by teaching positions at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies prior to his current Harvard appointment. His research themes consistently engage Economic & Financial History, Global & Transnational Historiography, Labor History, and Social History within the twentieth-century United States context.