Jennifer Stitt

Biography

I am a historian of modern American thought, culture, and politics. My research interests range widely and include the history of philosophy, religion, and literature; print and visual cultures; rallies, riots, and revolutions; citizenship and community as well as exclusion and isolation in the American republic; and the transnational trafficking of ideas.

My approach to history is a philosophical one: my research and writing explores ideas and intellectual practices in the past in order to better understand how we ought to live in our present moment, and I am especially keen to engage and converse with readers and publics outside of academia.

Education

Field

• American Intellectual History

MA Title

Working Dissertation title

• “Seeking Solitude: Imagining Self and Society in America”

Selected Publications

• “Solitary Encounters: Making Our Selves and Our Stories,” The Garrison Institute (23 January 2017).
• “Solitary Contemplation, a Political Act,” Public Seminar (19 December 2017).
• “The Courage to Be in Solitude,” The Garrison Institute (19 December 2017).
• “The Difference between Loneliness and Solitude,” The Garrison Institute (14 November 2017).
• “A Short History of Walking,” The Garrison Institute (11 October 2017).
• “Listening to Silence, Hearing the Unspeakable,” The Garrison Institute Blog (12 September 2017).
• “Before You Can Be With Others, First Learn to Be Alone,” Aeon (11 July 2017).
• “Stranger Things Have Happened: Hope in Alabama’s Senate Race,” Weld (1-8 June 2017): 14.

Selected Awards

• Summer Research Scholarship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Summer 2017
• Graduate School Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Academic Year 2015-2016
• David Hart White Prize in History, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2014

Courses Taught as TA

Courses Taught as Instructor

• History 102 — Western Civilization, 1450-Present, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• History 120 — U.S. History to 1877, University of Alabama at Birmingham