Lisa Tiersten

Lisa Tiersten is a Professor of History at Barnard College, where she has been a faculty member since 1993. She is affiliated with the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies program and contributes significantly to interdisciplinary scholarship in European cultural and gender history. Her office is located in the Milstein Center, and she holds regular office hours on Wednesdays.

Education:

• B.A., University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University

Professor Tiersten’s research centers on modern European cultural history, with a focus on France, gender, and the cultural dimensions of capitalism. Her work explores how consumer culture, national identity, and bourgeois values were shaped in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly through gendered spaces such as department stores and domestic interiors. She integrates feminist theory and comparative colonial studies into her historical analysis.

Her publications reveal a sustained engagement with the intersections of gender, modernity, and consumerism in fin-de-siècle Europe. The themes across her articles highlight the role of visual culture, domestic spaces, and public institutions in shaping bourgeois identity and national narratives, particularly in France. Her methodological approach blends cultural history with social theory and gender studies.

Scientific Awards and Honors:

• Emily Gregory Award for Excellence in Teaching, Barnard College
• Bourse Chateaubriand – French Government Research Grant

Professor Tiersten has secured significant research support from major institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, the Gilder Foundation, the French Historical Studies Society, and the Western Society for French History. While no formal list of advisees is provided, her leadership in research and teaching suggests active mentorship. She is currently working on two book projects: Sentimental Modernity: Business Culture in Third Republic France and The Child and the Nation-State: The US, France, and Sweden, 1900–2000 (with L. Tragardh).

Her scholarly contributions are deeply embedded in interdisciplinary research networks focusing on European studies, gender, and modernity. She collaborates with international scholars and contributes to key debates in cultural and gender history.