Kirsten A. Smitherman
M.A. Student
Advisor:
Catherine Kelly
Email:
[[kasmitherman]]
Current Research:
Cultural/Intellectual, Early America, Sex and Gender
Bio
Kirsten Smitherman received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in history ('22 and '24) from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she worked as both a graduate research and teaching assistant across a vast array of historical fields. Her M.A., attained at UNC-Charlotte, culminated in a research thesis entitled, "'In this enlightened age: Marriage and Enlightenment in Revolutionary America" directed by Dr. Christopher Cameron. For the 2024-2025 academic school year, Kirsten will be working as an editorial apprentice with the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.Kirsten's work concentrates broadly on Early American women and gendered obligations while examining the role that sex, expressions of sexuality, and eroticism played in their day-to-day lives. She is interested in the intellectual, cultural, and material output of, for, and about women across the transatlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Additionally, she is interested in the influence that the Enlightenment had on the production of American women's intellectual and material works, and finds that the interplay between popular literature, philosophical treatises, and the development of personal and civic identities are key in understanding the growth of America during the Early Republic.
