Kristen C
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Expertise
Environmental History; Medical Anthropology; colonial, post-colonial, de-colonial studies; feminist anthropology; the social study of science and technology; East African history; Imperialism; social science; creative writing & ethnographic writing/autoethnography
Bio
I earned my PhD in History and Anthropology from the University of Michigan and am currently a post-doctoral researcher in Science, Technology, and Society studies at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. <p> During my PhD, my research focused on the history of colonial science in East Africa (western Uganda), with special attention on the relationships between environment, labor, knowledge production, and spirit mediumship. Currently, my research asks how insights and methodologies from social sciences and humanities can strengthen research and innovation in STEM fields, especially biotech! <p> My favorite thing to do when I'm not teaching or conducting research is to swim in the rivers and pools of central Portugal! <p> I've worked with students on a wide range of projects including: -An environmental history of industrial whaling -Nuclear Energy & Indigenous politics in Taiwan -Racial segregation and public parks in Chicago -The role of AI in Genomics -An ethnography of Cancer Care Work -The Maternal Mortality Crisis in the US -The History of Uranium Mining on Indigenous Lands in Wyoming -Kwame Nkrumah and the history of Ghana's Independence -Birthright citizenship in the United States -A socio-chemical study of West African black soap. My students have: -Written original research papers and literature review essays -Presented their findings at conferences, including the Polygence Symposium -Published their papers in High School Journals -Produced Podcasts and virtual (online) exhibits -Conducted interviews and ethnographic research -Applied for and received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for their research & Earned admissions into top universities in the US, UK, and beyond!Project ideas
The Anthropology of Time and COVID-19
This project examines the experience of time during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this project, students will write a research paper or visual essay that asks how the pandemic altered our perceptions of time? Students will select a group to focus on (nurses, doctors, delivery workers, High School students, parents), and consider this question from their perspective by drawing on newspaper articles, social media posts, and/or personal experience ("autoethnography"). We will consider: Who or what gets to "slow down"? Who or what must continue apace? How has COVID changed or introduced new cultures of time?
Environmental Impacts of ChatGPT & AI Technologies
In this project, students will create a research paper, poster presentation, or visual essay that asks: what are the environmental impacts of advanced computing, including new AI technologies like ChatGPT? Drawing on academic research papers, journalistic articles, and environmental impact studies students will learn about the environmental consequences of various dimensions of computing, datacenters, and/or the manufacture of hardware. Together, we will explore the physicality of the "Cloud."
Segregation and colonialism in an East African City
For this project, students will write a research paper, visual essay, or interactive blog post about the history of segregation and colonialism in an East African city of their choice, for example Kampala or Nairobi. Drawing on colonial archives, newspapers, urban town plans, research papers, and more, students will examine how, under colonialism, East Africa's cities were designed to segregate communities along racial lines. We will look at the arrangement of space, the materials used in the construction of neighborhoods, laws, and urban infrastructure to understand how and why the city was segregated, and the afterlives of this segregation in the post-colonial era.
The Politics of Childbirth
In this project, students will ask: what are the politics of childbirth? Students will first select a vantage point from which to ask this question: this could be a country, a culture, a community (migrants, PoC, speakers of a certain language), and one dimension of childbirth (conception, pregnancy, labor, postpartum, etc). From this vantage point, they will investigate the experience and politics of childbirth for that community. What are the birth outcomes for this group? What influences those outcomes? How do intersecting identities such as gender, race, class, citizenship status, etc, impact the experience of childbirth for that group? What are the dominant ideas of childbirth in the society in question? What are competing, or marginal ideas about birth? Students will write a research paper, blog, or poster presentation about their findings.
A multi-species study of wildfires in California
Wildfires are increasing in frequency and scale across the world: in California, Portugal, Australia, among other places. These fires bring untold damage and harm to human life, and to property (buildings, infrastructure, etc.). But what about plant and animal life? What are the "biosocial" impacts of wildfires (themselves the product of society and ecology)? What does a "multispecies" approach to the study of wildfires contribute to our understanding of the various interventions, solutions, and approachs to the management and control of wildfires? For this project, students will pick a fire event (a single year or series of years), and a handful of non-human species (plants, animals, fungi...) around which to center their study. Through a creative essay, research paper, or poster presentation, students will be able to confidently discuss and argue about the multispecies consequences of wildfires from a social science perspective.