Karen Muñoz-Christian
Professor | World Languages and Cultures Department
Areas of Expertise
Literatures and cultures of the Spanish Caribbean, with specialization in Cuba
Latinx literatures and cultures; Afro-Latinx literature; Latinx public art
Diaspora and migration | Memory studies and postmemory
Service learning
Contact Information
805.756.2274 (office)
805.459.4697 (cell)
Email
Biography
Karen Muñoz-Christian believes that anyone who sticks with essentially the same career for over 40 years must either have found their calling, be extremely resistant to change or be unable to think of anything else to do. Passion, more than inflexibility or lack of creative thinking, is the primary reason why she has devoted her professional life to teaching. In a wide array of courses, she enthusiastically strives to make clear connections between course material and the world outside the classroom by providing opportunities for students to participate in numerous community outreach activities. These experiences raise their awareness of issues in their local community, the U.S. and abroad, while bringing the study of language and culture to life.
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1994
- M.A., Wichita State University, 1985
- B.S., Iowa State University, 1981
Research Interests
- Cuban/Cuban-American/Latinx literatures and cultures
- Diaspora and immigration studies
- Trauma, memory and epigenetics
Books and Publications
- "Show and Tell: Identity as Performance in U.S. Latina/o Fiction" (UNM Press, 1997).
- “Time Travel as Recuperation of Slave Histories in Mayra Santos-Febres’ Fe en disfraz.” In The Routledge Handbook of Latinx Visions (forthcoming).
- “Repairing the Broken Strands of Afro-Latina History in Mayra Santos-Febres’ Fiction.” In AfroLatinas and LatiNegras: Culture, Identity, and Struggle from an Intersectional Perspective (2022).
- “‘Who and what are you?’: Tracing the Middle Passage in Afro-Latinx Writing.” Label Me Latina/o (Summer 2020).
- “Trauma in the Caribbean: Postmemory and the Persistence of History in Latinx Literature.” Studies in American Culture (Spring 2020).