Joanna Cohen

Dr. Joanna Cohen is an Associate Professor in American History at Queen Mary University of London's School of History. She specializes in 19th-century U.S. history, focusing on consumption, citizenship, capitalism, and material culture. Her work explores how commercial practices shaped civic identity and emotional responses to loss during the Civil War era.

Education: BA (Cambridge), MA (Northwestern University), PhD (University of Pennsylvania).

Research Interests:

• Consumer culture and citizenship
• Visual/material culture in 19th-century America
• Capitalism's intersections with race/gender
• Emotional history of economic trauma

Awards:

• 2014 Grier Prize for best article
• Huntington Library Fellowship
• Newberry Library Fellowship

Supervision: Guides doctoral research on 19th-century American capitalism, consumption, and visual culture.

Public Engagement: BBC Radio contributor, podcast appearances, and frequent conference speaker at events like the Freethinking Festival.