Projects

Doctoral Dissertation – May 2024
Care underground: Activists and the transformation of American Dying in the 1960s

A clip from a magazine article entitled, “Should Funeral Directors Be in the Ambulance Business?” alongside an image of a 1950s model ambulance parked in front of a spread of emergency medical supplies.

Who cares for the dying and the dead? My dissertation explored the racial politics of death care activism in the 1960s.

exhibition, Striving to Flourish: Intersectional Lived Experiences with Disability

Across four panels, this poster depicts multiple individuals stopped at the bottom of a set of stairs: a skateboarder, a person pushing a baby in a stroller, a person using a wheelchair, and two cats. The final panel shows multiple users of a ramp. The text reads, “If you thought the wheel was a good idea–you’ll love the ramp!”

Co-curated with Kenya Loudd. Drawn from community resources as well as Yale’s collections, the selections in this exhibition offer contemporary and historical perspectives on how people have navigated disability as it intersects with their other identities.

Co-organizer, Symposium on Disability and Accessibility

A high-contrast image of four hands spelling Y-A-L-E in American Sign Language

A week of panel discussions, research presentations, exhibitions, film screenings and more on the subject of disability activism, inclusion, equity, and liberation.

Interview, August 26, 2021, COVID-Calls

A conversation with Professor Scott Knowles – learn about death care activism prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Book Review, August 26, 2021, Los Angeles Review of Books

Screen capture of Los Angeles Review of Books featuring the review article, "Corpse Capitalism: On John Troyer's 'Technologies of the Human Corpse'" — Screenshot of post announcing the latest articles on Los Angeles Review of Books. White text in the center reads “Corpse Capitalism: On John Troyer’s “Technologies of the Human Corpse,” below a photo of the book’s cover displaying a stylized illustration of a pink syringe, green tubing, yellow glove, and blue clamp. Text below reads, “A curiously optimistic new study of the commercial exploitation of dead bodies…” Aug 26, Deborah Streahle.

Invited Lecture, April 9, 2021 Death Doulas and the Struggle to Demedicalize Death

*Painting of a person wrapped in a purple shroud underground with flowers blooming above them, titled Beneath the Ground We Found Belonging, Jacqueline Maloney, 2021*

What does it mean to demedicalize death? In this talk, I described how a new category of non-medical death worker, the death doula, arose to address gaps within biomedicine at the end of life. From advising individuals about advance directives to sitting at the bedside to orchestrating home funerals, the modes of care and companionship offered by death doulas are varied.

Pop-up Exhibit, May 2019 Larry Kramer: Crisis and Care

Newspaper clippings and business cards of contacts who died from AIDS, source: the Larry Kramer Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript LIbrary — *Newspaper clippings and business cards of contacts who died from AIDS, source: the Larry Kramer Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library*

Drawn from the Larry Kramer Papers at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and curated for, “Literary Biography: Archives and Life Stories,” a Master Class with Dr. Karin Roffman.

Presentation, June 20, 2019 Reclaiming the Dead: The Politics of Home Funerals

Pirate Care conference flyer, Center for Postdigital Cultures — Text across an orange background in white reading “Center for Postdigital Cultures annual conference” at the top; in black “Pirate Care” in the center, and in white “Deborah Streahle” at the bottom.

A growing alternative death care movement seeks to normalize conversations about death (Death Café), demystify dying and care of the dead (Ask A Mortician series), and offer guidance throughout the dying process (death doulas). This presentation situates these movements historically within a longer lineage of Black social and political activism.

Exhibit, August 2019-2020
Celebrating 10 Years of the Cushing Center

*Installation of exhibit, Celebrating 10 Years of the Cushing Center. Photo by Terry Dagradi*

Dr. Cushing removed and preserved patients’ tumors and, after they died, their brains. These materials became the Cushing Brain Tumor Registry. While the collection was originally assembled to educate the medical elite, the Cushing Center opens the Brain Tumor Registry to the public from which it came. Co-curated with Terry Dagradi.

Presentation, Oct. 14, 2017
In Search of a “Good Nipple”: The Risk and Use of Lead Nipple Shields

Wooden nipple shields, source: Wellcome Collection — *Two examples of wooden nipple shields, source: Wellcome Collection*

These tiny, protective nursing devices–in use since the 16th century–sparked an intense controversy that called into question the integrity of doctors’ and mothers’ knowledge about safe infant feeding

Presentation, May 3, 2019
Flight Nurses, Free Clinics, and Rock Medicine: LSD and Nursing, 1950-1975

Pharmakon conference poster, hosted by NYU — Pharmakon *conference poster displaying the words, “Can you think critically about drugs?”, hosted by NYU*

What do nurses have to do with LSD? By developing specialized care protocols in LSD research and by staffing nontraditional, free clinics and emergency care tents, nurses have provided essential caregiving labor that has been overlooked in histories of nursing and assessments of the social impact of LSD.

Podcast, May 1, 2019
“Don’t Agonize, Organize!” Florynce “Flo” Kennedy, 1916-2000

Flo Kennedy at the N.O.W. march in 1972. Photo by Bettye Lane, source: Schlesinger Library — Black activist Flo Kennedy at the N.O.W. march in 1972. Kennedy is raising one fist in the air and wearing a tank top patterned with the American flag. Photo by Bettye Lane, source: Schlesinger Library

A guest appearance on the Dead Ladies Show, recorded live in New York City. Radical Black feminist lawyer Flo Kennedy founded cross-movement coalitions, organized intersectional protests, and fought for justice in court on behalf of the Black Panthers and women’s reproductive autonomy—all while wearing her distinctive cowboy hat, pink sunglasses, and false eyelashes.

Projects

Doctoral Dissertation – May 2024 Care underground: Activists and the transformation of American Dying in the 1960s