Rachel Fabian

Rachel Fabian is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at Purchase College, SUNY, specializing in feminist film and media history, transnational media activism, and documentary studies. She holds a PhD in Film and Media Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2013 MA), and a BA from the University of Vermont. Her research explores transnational feminist perspectives in activist film/video collectives of the 1970s–80s, emphasizing their global relationalities beyond isolated social movements.

Her work has been supported by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard) and the UC Humanities Research Institute, where she contributed to the 'Rethinking Transnational Feminisms' project (2017). She previously served as Managing Editor of Camera Obscura and Issue Editor for Media Fields Journal's 'Access/Trespass' special issue. Her 2018 article on Claire Johnston, awarded the SCMS Women’s Caucus prize, repositions Johnston's theoretical work within her underacknowledged 1970s activism and filmmaking.

Recent scholarship trends focus on decolonizing media historiography and intersectional approaches to activist media practices. Grants and fellowships highlight interdisciplinary engagement with feminist theory and transnational cultural production.