Alexandra Straub

  • Research Associate

Alexandra Straub is an environmental historian interested in the intersection of non-human nature, technology, culture and science. Her current research explores the ways that women have interacted with non-human nature, in particular the regular and intimate ways women have discussed, used, and understood water. She is currently working on her first manuscript about the history of chemical and mechanical water softening, which explores themes such as environment and labor; gender and technology; race and environmental justice; and American capitalism and consumption. 

 

Alexandra’s research also focuses on the complex ways that gender intersects with non-human nature, race, and class, reflected in a recent publication, “Water Fit for a Christian Women: the Gendered and Racial Politics of Water in the Wash,” (Environmental History, 2022). Alexandra has experience teaching on topics of gender, sexuality, and women in both US history and world history. 


 

Alexandra is a Research Associate at the World History Center and adjunct professor in the History Department. She received her PhD in history from Temple University in 2020.