Lisa Lowe

Lisa Lowe is the Samuel Knight Professor of American Studies at Yale University, with affiliate appointments in the Programs in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She has previously taught at the University of California, San Diego, and Tufts University, establishing a distinguished interdisciplinary career in American Studies, Comparative Literature, and critical race theory.

Education:

• Stanford University – European Intellectual History
• University of California, Santa Cruz – French Literature and Critical Theory

Lowe's research focuses on the intersections of colonialism, race, immigration, and globalization. Her work critically examines how liberal modernity is built upon racial capitalism, settler colonialism, and transnational displacement. She is a leading voice in transnational feminism and Asian American studies, analyzing how immigrant subjects are constructed as 'perpetual foreigners' within national cultures. Her scholarship bridges literary analysis, historical critique, and political theory to interrogate the legacies of empire.

Her recent publications show a sustained engagement with the entanglements of liberalism, empire, and intimacy across continents. Themes include racial capitalism, the transpacific, feminist resistance, and the cultural politics of globalization. Her work consistently challenges disciplinary boundaries and calls for a rethinking of American Studies through a global and decolonial lens.

Scientific Awards and Honors:

• Guggenheim Fellow
• American Council of Learned Societies Fellow
• Rockefeller Foundation Fellow
• Mellon Foundation Fellow
• UC Humanities Research Institute Fellow
• University of California President's Faculty Research Fellow (2011–12)
• Visiting Fellow, School of Advanced Study, University of London
• F. Ross Johnson-Connaught Distinguished Visitor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto (2012)
• Carl Bode - Norman Holmes Pearson Award (2018)
• Richard A. Yarborough Prize (2018)
• Finalist, John Hope Franklin Award (2016)
• Nicolás Guillén Outstanding Book Award (2018)
• 1997 Book Award in Cultural Studies, Association for Asian American Studies

Lowe has been a mentor to numerous scholars, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds, recognized by the Richard A. Yarborough Prize. She has received multiple grants and fellowships supporting her research, including from the Mellon, Rockefeller, and Guggenheim Foundations. She co-convened the Mellon Sawyer Seminar 'Comparative Global Humanities' at Tufts and has been an Affiliate Scholar at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (2022–2023). She has also served as a visiting fellow and speaker at numerous international institutions, indicating sustained collaborative and advisory engagement.

Lowe co-edits the influential book series Perverse Modernities with Jack Halberstam at Duke University Press, shaping contemporary critical theory. She has also co-edited special issues and volumes that have advanced the field of Asian American Studies. Her scholarly network includes leading institutions across the U.S. and globally, and she continues to be a central figure in interdisciplinary humanities.