Michelle O'Brien
Part-time Faculty
meo293@nyu.edu
431 - 1 Wash Pl
Office Hours
Friday 2:00-4:00
Michelle Esther O'Brien is a sociologist and practicing psychotherapist. Her research focuses on capitalism and LGBTQ social movements. She has published work in the journals Social Movement Studies; Work, Employment and Society and Historical Materialism. Her work has also appeared in the collective volumes The Transgender Studies Reader 2 (Routledge, 2013) and Transgender Marxism (Pluto, 2021). Her political writing has been translated into Chinese, French, Spanish and Greek. She completed her PhD at NYU and her dissertation, ÒClass Politics and Queer Movements in New York City,Ó focused on how NYC's changing political economy since the 1970s has shaped LGBTQ organizing. O'Brien previously coordinated the NYC Trans Oral History Project. She worked on the frontlines of HIV and AIDS services, and in NYC's housing justice movements. She has taught at NYU, Lehman College, and Binghamton University. She received the 2017Ð2018 American Dissertation Fellow from the American Association of University Women. O'Brien is currently studying psychoanalytic theory and practice at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR).
Teaching and Research Interests
Interests: queer studies trans studies social movement studies oral history capitalism 20th century New York City history political economy labor organizing critiques of the family HIV/AIDS social welfare public policy US Black freedom movement psychoanalysis
Courses
2023 Spring
Queer Sexualities and Capitalism
2022 Spring
LGBTQ+ Social Movements in Context
2022 Fall
2021 Fall
