Jennifer Lupu

Jennifer Lupu (she/her) is an historical archaeologist with a PhD in anthropology and a graduate certificate in gender and sexuality studies from Northwestern University. Her current project centers on the case study of Washington, DC between 1840–1920, examining at-home healthcare in the context of historical disease epidemics, urban segregation, and structural barriers to medicine access. The domestic sphere importantly acts as a locus of individual, familial, and community care practices, revealing differing access to medical commodities and varied environmental factors impacting health outcomes. Lupu uses archaeological materials from household trash deposits to examine patterns in pharmaceutical commodity circulation over time and across demographic categories.  The stories of people associated with the archaeological artifacts have led her to explore the trash deposits of a druggist who was accused of smuggling quinine during the Civil War, medical and alcohol bottles disposed of by brothel residents during the 1880s, the possessions of an African American midwife living in the 1900s, and trash from a queer party scene run by a gender nonconforming person during the 1920s, among other stories. During the 2023–2024 academic year, she will be a visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Northwestern University.