Photo of Carolyn Eichner

Carolyn Eichner

  • Professor, History
  • Professor, Women's & Gender Studies

Education

  • PhD, Modern European History, University of California, Los Angeles
  • MA, Modern European History, Northern Illinois University

Teaching Schedule

Course Num Title Meets
HIST 850-001 Colloquium on European History: France's Revolutionary Century T 4pm-6:40pm
WGS 501-001 Advanced Humanities Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies: Gender and Imperialism: Historical Perspectives R 2:30pm-5:10pm
WGS 501G-001 Advanced Humanities Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies: Gender and Imperialism: Historical Perspectives R 2:30pm-5:10pm

Courses Taught

  • HST 242: Women and Gender in Europe – 1750-the Present
  • HST 355: Modern & Contemporary France
  • HST 468: The History of U.S. Feminisms
  • HST 850: France’s Revolutionary Century
  • HST 950: Women, Gender, & Sexuality in European Revolutions
  • WGS 201: Introduction to Women's & Gender Studies
  • WGS 303: Feminist Activism & Movements - The History of Feminism in the U.S.
  • WGS 500: Advanced Social Science Seminar: Gender, Sexuality and Imperialism
  • WGS 700: Feminist Issues and Scholarship: Power & Resistance

Research Interests

  • Gender, Women & Sexuality in 19th-Century France & Empire
  • Gender, Sexuality, & Imperialism
  • Anti-Imperialisms
  • Citizenship, Gender, & Race
  • Histories of Feminisms
  • The Paris Commune
  • New Caledonia
  • Politics of Names & Naming

Related Activities

Fellowships, Grants, & Awards

  • National Endowment for the Humanitis (NEH) Public Scholar Award, 2025.
  • Fulbright Research Scholar, France (Paris), 2022-2023
  • Camargo Foundation Fellow, Spring 2023
  • Research Team Member, The Politics of Reason (POLSON)
    • 4-year grant, funded by Convocatoria 2020—Proyectos de I+D+I, Ministry of Science & Innovation, Government of Spain, 2021-2025
  • Office of Research /UWM Foundation Research Award, UWM, 2021-2022
  • Institute for Research in the Humanities, UW-Madison, 2020-2021
  • Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 2015-2016

Professional Service

  • International Federation for Research in Women’s & Gender History, Board Member, 2015-2020, 2020-2025
  • Western Society for French History, President, 2014-2015; Vice-President, 2013-2014
  • French Historical Studies, Editorial Board Member, 2013-2016
  • Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires since 1820, Collaborating Editor, 2015-2018.

Biographical Sketch

Carolyn J. Eichner is a feminist historian specializing in modern France and the intersections of empire, gender, race, and political radicalism. A recipient of a 2025 National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award, she was also a 2022-2023 Fulbright Research Scholar in France (Paris), and has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France; and the Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Eichner is the author of Feminism’s Empire (Cornell University Press, 2022), The Paris Commune: A Brief History (Rutgers University Press, 2022), and Surmounting the Barricades: Women in the Paris Commune (Indiana University Press, 2004), which, translated into French as Franchir les barricades: Les femmes dans la Commune de Paris (Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2020), was a finalist for the 2021 Prix Augustin Thierry. She is currently writing two books: Louise Michel: A Revolutionary Life, a spatial biography of the 19th-century revolutionary anarchist feminist, and The Name: Legitimacy, Identity, and Gendered Citizenship, examining the politics and cultures of personal names.

Books

Eichner, Carolyn J. Feminism's Empire (Cornell University Press, 2022).
Eichner, Carolyn J. The Paris Commune: A Brief History (Rutgers University Press, 2022).
Eichner, Carolyn J. Franchir les barricades: Les femmes dans la Commune de Paris (Editions de la Sorbonne, 2020).
Eichner, Carolyn J.Surmounting the Barricades: Women in the Paris Commune (Indiana University Press. 2004).

Selected Publications

"French Feminisms, Global Imperialisms - Some Historiographical Reflections on Writing Feminism's Empire,"Women's History Review (published online May 2024).
Eichner, Carolyn J.“La Commune : pas de révolution sans femmes” L’Histoire. Les Collections90. (2021).
Eichner, Carolyn J.“La colonie pénale genrée: Prisonnières politiques en Nouvelle-Calédonie” Les circulations européennes à l’âge des empires coloniaux au XIXe siècle. Une identité genrée?Ed. Chaillou-Atrous, Virginie . Presses Universitaires de Rennes. (2020): 83-92.
Eichner, Carolyn J.“Language of Imperialism, Language of Liberation: Louise Michel & the Kanak-French Colonial Encounter” Feminist Studies45.2 (2019): 377-408.
Eichner, Carolyn J.“Exil et empire colonial : Louise Michel et l'expérience de la déportation” La Commune de 1871 : une relectureEd. Godineau, Laure , and César, Marc. Grâne. (2019): 359-368.
Eichner, Carolyn J.“Civilization vs. Solidarity: Louise Michel and the Kanak” Salvage Quarterly4. (2017): 84-97.

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