Lisa Jahn is a cultural anthropologist whose research combines ethnographic methods with feminist and critical social theory to explore racialization, gendered labor, care, coloniality, climate vulnerability and displacement. Her current research traces the systemic failures and exploitation of racialized care labor in New York City’s response to Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane María in 2017. The study centers a critique of the racialized violence within economies of care aimed at assisting populations displaced by environmental disasters, while simultaneously demonstrating how diasporic women create alternative modes of recovery through radical forms of care. This ongoing project reflects a broader research and teaching focus on issues related to Latinx/é studies, diaspora, transnational feminism, racism, and decolonial struggles. Her research has been supported by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research and the Mellon Foundation. She teaches courses on Latinx/a/é New York City, Feminist Ethnography and American Studies.
She has co-authored numerous articles as part of the Findings Collective in AnthropologyNow and a white paper for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on Sexual and Reproductive Justice and Community Engagement.
Prior to joining Barnard, Jahn was an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY for seven years. She completed her Ph.D in Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center.