Lisa Jean Moore
Lisa Jean Moore is a medical sociologist and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Purchase College.
Her scholarship is located at the intersections of sociology of health and medicine, science and technology studies, feminist studies, human animal studies, food studies, and critical body studies. Moving back and forth across multiple disciplinary boundaries, Moore examines the myriad ways in which bodies and identities are created and marked by powerful actors within social institutions and by the unequal distribution of resources locally and globally.
Her training in public health enhances her ability to translate theoretical concepts in science, gender, race, sexuality, animal, and food studies to the more empirically driven world of health sciences.
Moore is the author of nine books including Our Transgenic Future: Spider Goats, Genetic Modification and the Will to Change Nature (NYUP). This book investigates the creation of spider goats, a genetically modified species that lactates spider silk protein.
Curriculum
Moore has previously designed and taught multiple courses on the sociocultural studies of food in Pisciotta, Italy and Dharamshala, India.
Drawing on her experiences in Italy and India, Moore endeavored to understand the staples of Beninese cuisine through discussions and interactions with vendors, farmers, chefs, fishermen and laypeople. In fostering relationships with people in the community, opportunities emerge to create cultural exchange and serendipitous and spontaneous chances – visiting a farm, harvesting igname in the area around Cotonou, distilling sodabi in Haie Vive, pounding igname and cassava into pate. These hands-on opportunities to get involved and “make something, and eat it” encourages a sociality integral to study abroad programs and the healthy exchange of cultural differences. To foster cultural exchange and increase global awareness, analysis of food is a perfect area to engage students.