Christopher M. Rudeen

Christopher M. Rudeen is a historian of the mind sciences, specializing in their interactions with race, gender, and sexuality. He has published on a variety of topics, including British tanning in the early twentieth century, "Rest in Peace" shirts as a technology of group healing, and the relationship between fur coats and therapeutic culture. 

His dissertation explored the history of the "psychology of clothes," a project that connected interior states with external trappings in the hopes of creating an objective grounding for the study of the self. He is also working on two new projects, one on the history of neurodermatitis and the other on ways of measuring interaction, especially in the context of the therapeutic encounter.

Rudeen received his Ph.D. in the history of science with a secondary field in studies of women, gender, and sexuality from Harvard University. He also holds a B.S. from Yale University, where he studied chemistry and the history of science, medicine, and public health. At Smith, he teaches courses on the history of science and medicine. 

Outside of his work, he enjoys reading fiction, napping with his cat, and explaining the rule of threes.