S.E. Eisterer

S.E. Eisterer serves as Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University's School of Architecture, where she also holds membership on the Executive Committee for Media + Modernity. A co-founder of the Queer Space Working Group and board member of the Insurgent Domesticities Group, she is currently on leave during 2023-24 as a Senior Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Munich Documentation Center. Previously, she held faculty positions at Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she contributed to Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies programming.

Education:

• Mag.Arch. from Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
• M.A. and Ph.D. in History of Architecture and Urbanism from Cornell University

Research Focus: Eisterer's scholarship centers on spatial histories of dissidence through feminist, queer, and trans* theoretical frameworks, examining architecture's intersections with social/ecological movements and resistance labor. Her work investigates how marginalized communities weaponize space against oppression, analyzing gendered spatial practices from Nazi resistance to contemporary LGBTQIA+ spaces. She bridges architectural history with critical theory to expose how power operates through built environments while documenting counter-practices of freedom.

Publication Trends: Her recent work reveals strong interdisciplinary patterns merging architectural history with gender studies, resistance theory, and material culture analysis. Key themes include the spatial dimensions of unfreedom, feminist architects' legacies (particularly Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky), and how ephemeral objects become resistance tools. Publications consistently challenge architectural norms through queer/trans* lenses while documenting spatial tactics of oppressed communities across historical contexts.

Scientific Recognition:

• Carter Manny Award and Bruno Zevi Award
• Perkins Holmes Teaching Award (2020) and Lynda S. Hart Teaching Award (2020)
• Princeton-Mellon Initiative Fellowship (2020-2021)
• Frieda L. Miller Fellowship at Radcliffe Institute (2017-2018)
• Pearl Resnick Fellowship at USHMM (2021-2022)
• Senior Fellowship with Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2023-24)

Mentorship and Funding: Eisterer supervises PhD candidates exploring gender/queer theory, housing cooperatives, and urban culture histories, employing innovative pedagogical methods like zine creation instead of traditional essays. Her research receives substantial support from Botstiber Foundation, Clarence Stein Fellowship, Society for Humanities at Cornell, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Sachs Foundation, and Viennese Mayor's Office, enabling critical investigations into architecture's role in social justice movements.

Collaborative Leadership: She co-founded the Queer Space Working Group (2021) and Architecture and Environment Group (2017), currently directs Princeton Humanities Council's Magic Grant on 'Queer Spaces in the World,' and co-organized UPenn's Excellence through Diversity lecture series (2018-2021), demonstrating sustained commitment to expanding architectural discourse through intersectional frameworks.