A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

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Karen Morris

Associate Professor

Contact

Bio

Education: BA, Anthropology, 1996, Davidson College, NC; MA, Anthropology, 1998, and PhD, Cultural and Social Anthropology, 2005, Stanford University, CA.

Publications: Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, The Queer Precariat In and Out of Higher Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Anthropology News, Studies in Art Education, City & Society: Society for Urban, National and Transnational/Global Anthropology.

Awards: Spencer Foundation Large Research Grant on Education, University of Illinois Award for Creative Activity, Innovation 80 CoGen Grant

Karen Morris is a lesbian mother, cultural anthropologist, and co-founder of The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project. She is interested in experimental, community-based collaborative research, pedagogy, and social justice work. Earlier in her career, Karen conducted ethnographic research in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa and Washington, D.C. to explore how transnational news media circulation among Ivorian families with diasporic members shaped the country’s political culture during crisis. Karen’s current work explores intergenerational connection between LGBTQ+ people, with a focus on care, kinship, aging, and activism.

Since its founding in 2019, The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project has evolved into a hybrid community/research partnership led by LGBTQ+ faculty and social service providers at SAIC, Center on Halsted (the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ+ community center), University of Illinois-Chicago, and University of Chicago. The project brings together racially, socioeconomically, and gender diverse cohorts of LGBTQ+ college students and older adults (60+) for year-long series of bi-weekly themed dialogues, collaborative art-making, and shared meals.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This course explores the anthropological methods employed in ethnographic fieldwork and analysis. Students acquire a critical and historical knowledge of the range of research methods in cultural anthropology. In addition, they gain personal experience in designing an ethnographic research project, conducting fieldwork, and analyzing findings. We examine classic and contemporary ethnographic texts and films and discuss the theoretical foundations underlying ethnography, ethical issues within ethnographic research, and key debates around fieldwork as a method of knowledge production.

Class Number

2088

Credits

3

Description

This collaborative, community-based course is centered around The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project, an ongoing partnership between Center on Halsted and SAIC. Classes will be held both at SAIC and Center on Halsted. Bringing together LGBTQ+-identified students and elders, this project provides a rare opportunity for dialogue across queer generations. Participants discuss, from their various perspectives and experiences, topics central to LGBTQ+ lives and histories such as Gender, Sex, Spirituality, Art, LGBTQ+ History, Family, Race, Class, Coming Out, Aging and Ageism, and Activism and Social Movements. Readings, audio recordings, and screenings will explore LGBTQ+ histories through their representation in various forms. Over the course of the semester, students work collaboratively with elders in small groups to create “objects'' in various forms (such as an animated video, comics zine, oral history, reflective or critical essay, personal narrative, visual art piece, or photographic essay) that bring to life the stories, histories, and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ folks. These “objects'' will be featured on our website (generationliberation.com).

Class Number

1093

Credits

3

Description

This collaborative, community-based course is centered around The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project, an ongoing partnership between Center on Halsted and SAIC. Classes will be held both at SAIC and Center on Halsted. Bringing together LGBTQ+-identified students and elders, this project provides a rare opportunity for dialogue across queer generations. Participants discuss, from their various perspectives and experiences, topics central to LGBTQ+ lives and histories such as Gender, Sex, Spirituality, Art, LGBTQ+ History, Family, Race, Class, Coming Out, Aging and Ageism, and Activism and Social Movements. Readings, audio recordings, and screenings will explore LGBTQ+ histories through their representation in various forms. Over the course of the semester, students work collaboratively with elders in small groups to create “objects'' in various forms (such as an animated video, comics zine, oral history, reflective or critical essay, personal narrative, visual art piece, or photographic essay) that bring to life the stories, histories, and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ folks. These “objects'' will be featured on our website (generationliberation.com).

Class Number

1035

Credits

3

Description

This course explores the anthropological methods employed in ethnographic fieldwork and analysis. Students acquire a critical and historical knowledge of the range of research methods in cultural anthropology. In addition, they gain personal experience in designing an ethnographic research project, conducting fieldwork, and analyzing findings. We examine classic and contemporary ethnographic texts and films and discuss the theoretical foundations underlying ethnography, ethical issues within ethnographic research, and key debates around fieldwork as a method of knowledge production.

Class Number

2297

Credits

3

Description

This course enables upper-level students to develop a well-researched thesis project on a topic of their choice. Such a thesis project may be linked to their final BFA thesis or studio project, and may be useful for students considering graduate school in a field in which research and writing expertise is required. Students may choose to enlist innovative formats and incorporate a variety of media. Topics as diverse as 'Gay Cinema,' 'Culture as Industry,' 'Is Rap Subversive?,' 'The Art and Science of Fragrance,' and 'The Morphology of the Toy Soldier Body' have been explored. Class meetings are used to share research methods, discuss the given challenges of various projects, and present works-in-progress for critique.

Class Number

2362

Credits

3

Description

This independent study course is a continuation of Thesis I and is taken with the student's primary thesis advisor to facilitate completion of the thesis. Research and approval (by the advisor and the rest of the student's committee) of the thesis topic and approach should have been completed during Thesis I. Students work closely with a thesis advisor during this semester in addition to scheduling meetings with other faculty on his or her committee whose input may prove useful in their research. This course covers the final completion and submission of the master's thesis. It is required for the Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies.

Class Number

2522

Credits

3

Description

This independent study course is a continuation of Thesis I and is taken with the student's primary thesis advisor to facilitate completion of the thesis. Research and approval (by the advisor and the rest of the student's committee) of the thesis topic and approach should have been completed during Thesis I. Students work closely with a thesis advisor during this semester in addition to scheduling meetings with other faculty on his or her committee whose input may prove useful in their research. This course covers the final completion and submission of the master's thesis. It is required for the Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies.

Class Number

2527

Credits

3

Description

This independent study course is a continuation of Thesis I and is taken with the student's primary thesis advisor to facilitate completion of the thesis. Research and approval (by the advisor and the rest of the student's committee) of the thesis topic and approach should have been completed during Thesis I. Students work closely with a thesis advisor during this semester in addition to scheduling meetings with other faculty on his or her committee whose input may prove useful in their research. This course covers the final completion and submission of the master's thesis. It is required for the Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies.

Class Number

2530

Credits

3

Description

This independent study course is a continuation of Thesis I and is taken with the student's primary thesis advisor to facilitate completion of the thesis. Research and approval (by the advisor and the rest of the student's committee) of the thesis topic and approach should have been completed during Thesis I. Students work closely with a thesis advisor during this semester in addition to scheduling meetings with other faculty on his or her committee whose input may prove useful in their research. This course covers the final completion and submission of the master's thesis. It is required for the Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies.

Class Number

2531

Credits

3