Deborah Valenze

Deborah Valenze is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of History at Barnard College, specializing in the cultural and social history of Britain and Europe from 1600 to 1830. Her work interrogates intersections of economic life, gender, religion, and food history.

• Education: B.A. from Radcliffe College, Ph.D. from Brandeis University

Her research explores themes like the history of the senses, economic ideas, and the cultural construction of food, particularly milk and dairy industries. Her publications reveal how milk transitioned from a sacred substance to a global commodity, with Milk: A Local and Global History (2011) and the forthcoming The Invention of Scarcity (2023) redefining Malthusian theory through marginalized subsistence practices.

Valenze's academic contributions span interdisciplinary awards, including Guggenheim and Fulbright-Hays fellowships, alongside grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Association of University Women. She currently serves as President of the North American Conference on British Studies.