Ari Forsyth (they/them)

I am a PhD student in History specializing in race, gender, and Jewish identity in the early twentieth-century United States. My training is in four fields of social and cultural history: United States history (1865-present), global Jewish history (1492-present), comparative race and colonialism, and Critical Disability & Science, Technology, and Society (STS) studies. 

My teaching and research interests include early 20th-century social science, social work, & urban policing, histories of Progressivism/liberalism, US settler colonialism, US overseas imperialism, global Jewish migration (1492-present), Jewish-American ethnic identity, cultural Zionism, women's history, and critical studies of race, gender, sexuality, and disability. 

My dissertation investigates Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish-American women’s experiences as reformers, social workers, and criminalized subjects in early twentieth-century US cities like New York and Seattle to understand connections between disability, gender normativity, and whiteness.

When I'm not working, I love watching Star Trek, making zines and linocuts, two-stepping to fast drums, reading spec fic, 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. 

Professional Appointments:

• 2022 - 2024 | Teaching Assistant, UW History Department
• 2023 - 2024 | Editorial and Communications Intern, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest (CSPN) and Pacific Northwest Quarterly (PNQ) 
• 2024 - Present | Graduate Research Assistant, Lakeland Village Preservation Project, UW Disability Studies Program & WA State Legislature (Funded by SB 6125)