Ari Forsyth (they/them)

My research explores race, gender, and disability in the 19th- and 20th-century United States and modern Jewish diaspora, with an emphasis on the political and scientific work of ordinary women and girls. 

As a social and cultural historian, I analyze colonial, capitalist, and cultural systems of domination by focusing on everyday social relationships, cultural performances, and spatial encounters. 

My dissertation, Big Mother: A History of Jewish Social Work in the United States, 1880-1940, examines interactions between Jewish social workers in early twentieth-century US cities and Jewish women and girls they deemed “deviant,” “defective,” and “delinquent.” Through these encounters, Jewish social workers enacted, policed, and ultimately reshaped  Jewish relationships to race, gender, and (dis)abilty. 

My professional experience includes work at Pacific Northwest Quarterly, the Lakeland Village Preservation Project, and teaching in History and Disability Studies. In the 2026-2027 academic year, I will be conducting dissertation research in New York City as the Arcadia Graduate Fellow at the Center for Jewish History Institute for Advanced Research. 

Selected research and teaching interests: US history; women's and gender history; race and nation-building; Jewish migration; American Jewish identity; organized charity; Progressive social reform; the welfare state; social science; urban policing; juvenile delinquency; intellectual and developmental disability (IDD);  the American eugenics movement.

When I'm not working, I love reading speculative fiction, making zines and linocuts, two-stepping to fast drums, and riding public transportation. I believe that historical research is not only a life-saving and politically essential tool for understanding systems of power that shape our lives but also, frankly, an incredibly fun way to spend a Saturday night. I serve UW students and local community members and welcome requests for insight, support, or advocacy.