About

Lisa Marie Bitel

Professor of History and Gender Studies
Chair, Gender Studies Program

Contact Information
E-mail: bitel@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 821-2150
Office: SOS 282

LINKS
Faculty Profile on Departmental Website
Personal Website
Course Information
Monastic Matrix
 

Education
A.B. , Smith College, 1/1980
AM History, Harvard University, 1/1982
Ph.D. History, Harvard University, 1/1987
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History
Professor of History, Gender Studies, and Religion, University of Southern California, 01/01/2001-  
 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Bitel studies the social, cultural, and religious history of medieval Europe. She has written four books about religion and/or gender in early medieval Europe, and published articles about sex, dreams, architecture, and Christianity, among other topics. She is currently researching two books about religious vision: a book on the material history of medieval visions and a collaborative book about a modern-day vision event in the Mojave desert.
 

Research Specialties
Medieval European history, history of Christianity, women's and gender history, Ireland, Celtic literatures and cultures, art and archaeology of medieval Europe
 

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions
Center for Religion and Civic Culture,http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/academic/culture.html
IBIS,http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/history/ibis/
Center for Excellence in Research, Fellow, 2008-2011,http://www.usc.edu/research/about/vp/cer/
Center for Feminist Research, Chair, Steering Committee,http://www.usc.edu/dept/cfr/html/home.htm
Monastic Matrix, Director, editor,http://monasticmatrix.org
 

Publications

Book
Bitel, L. M. (2009). Landscape with Two Saints: How Saint Genovefa of Paris and Saint Brigit of Kildare Built Christianity in Barbarian Europe. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Bitel, Lisa Marie; Lifshitz, Felice (Ed.). (2007). • Gender and Christianity in Medieval Europe : New Perspectives. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Bitel, L. M. (2002). Women in Early Medieval Europe. Cambridge, UK: Women in Early Medieval Europe/Cambridge University Press.
Bitel, L. M. (1996). Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender From Early Ireland. Ithaca, NY: Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender From Early Ireland/Cornell University Press.
Bitel, L. M. (1990). Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland. Ithaca, NY: Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland/Cornell University Press.
 

Book Chapter
Bitel, L. M. (2007). "Period Trouble: The Impossibility of Teaching Medieval Feminist History" in Celia Chazelle and Felice Lifshitz, eds., Paradigms and Methods in Early Medieval Studies. pp. p. 28. New York: Palgrave.
 

Conference Proceeding
Bitel, Lisa Marie (Ed.). (2009). • Visualizing the Invisible: Visionary Technologies in Religious and Cultural Contexts. 1-2. Visual Resources: Special Double Isse.
 

Journal Article
Bitel, L. M., Gainer, M. (2009). • "Looking the Wrong Way: Authenticity and Proof of Religious Vision". Visual Resources. Vol. 25 (1-2), pp. 69-62.
Bitel, L. M. (2007). Tools and Scripts for Cursing in Early and Medieval Ireland. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Vol. 51/52 (2006/7)
Bitel, L. M. (2007). Virgins for Sale. Journal of Women's History. Vol. 19 (no. 2 (2007): 170-177)
Bitel, L. M. (2004). "Ekphrasis at Kildare: The Imaginative Architecture of an Early Irish Hagiographer". Speculum. pp. p. 605-627.
 

Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works
Digital Repository, Monastic Matrix (http://www.monasticmatrix.org), 01/01/2003-  
 

Honors and Awards
Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, 2000-2001  
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, NEH Fellowship for University Teachers, 1995-1996  
 

Service to the University

Administrative Appointments
Chair, Gender Studies Program, 08/16/2007-08/15/2010  
Interim Director, Center for Feminist Research, 08/16/2007-08/15/2008  
 

Service to the Profession

Editorships and Editorial Boards
Editorial Board, Material Religions, 2008-  
Editorial board, History Compass, 2005-  
Editorial board, Feminae, 1998-  
Director and Editor, Monastic Matrix, 1993-  
 
 
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