KARINA ASTRID EILERAAS KARAKUŞ
1820 S. Beverly Glen Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 497-2154
Highly experienced educator, powerful communicator, and expert on gender issues, with emphasis on sexual violence, new media, visual culture, and D&I in the tech sector. Trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies with nearly ten years of research, publications, conference presentations and media appearances.I now seek an opportunity to apply my expertise on gender, sexuality, diversity, and instructional design within a business consulting firm or start-up.
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 2000-2003
Ph.D. Women's Studies, 4.0 GPA. Areas of expertise include feminist theory; sexual violence, international human rights and development studies; fashion and revolution; film, media, music, and performance studies; Marilyn Monroe and celebrity culture; nationalism, sexuality, revolution, and exile in the Middle East & North Africa; Orientalism and Islamophobia; transnational trauma, social media, digital citizenship and visual culture
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, Evanston, IL1995-1997
Completed MA & Ph.D. coursework in French, 4.0 GPA. Concentrations in Gender Studies; Postcolonial Theory; North African Literature; & Performance Studies
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Middletown, CT1989-1993
B.A. Magna cum laude, 4.0 GPA. Triple major in International Relations, Women's Studies & French
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PROGRAM IN PARIS
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA2014-Present
Lecturer, Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies
•Design, update, and teach gender-based curricula
•Develop expertise and communicate it to diverse audiences through teaching, research, publication, media appearances, and participation in conferences and professional organizations
•Contribute to ongoing programming and development needs; participate in brainstorming, administrative and organizationalefforts to support the department
•Mentor students on independent research projects, including senior theses and documentaries; counselregardinggraduate education and career options
Courses Taught:
• The New Frankenstein?: Technology Meets Humanity
•Sexy, Cyber, & Revolutionary Bodies: Fashion, Fantasy, & the Politics of Embodiment
•Feminist Theory (graduate & undergraduate seminars)
• Sexuality, Revolution & Exile in the Middle East & North Africa
• (In)visible Archives: Marilyn Monroe, Celebrity Culture and the Politics of Femininity
WORLD EDUCATION FOUNDATION, Oslo, Norway 2014-2017
Program Management Officer, Silicon Valley Solution Vortex
•Worked with leaders in the tech sector and academia to innovatecommunity-based solutions to sexual violence (including GPS-based reporting apps) and international development issues, including gender inequality in education and gender and cultural dimensions of the digital divide
•Partnered with The Art Center of Pasadena to offer student internships to create design solutions to social issues, including solar powered cars and wearable technology. Performed initial review and coordinated selection process for potential interns
•Worked with local teams in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco to empower youth in refugee camps, with a focus on girls in conflict zones of the Maghreb
•Managed programmatic development, including program coordination, organizational development, outreach, knowledge management, research, and liaison with key constituents
• Assisted Communications Officer to coordinate liaisons between WEF and external partners, donors, educational institutions (USC, Stanford, MIT Media Labs, Harvard, & NYU's Center for Global Affairs), UN organizations, NGOs and foreign governments to communicate the work of the program, facilitate collaboration on joint activities, and ensure good working relationships
• Monitored discussions and practices by diverse contributors to the fields of education, technology, gender studies and international development to identify items useful for WE and its grantees, especially in the pursuit of core funding
• Drafted and reviewed proposals and provided periodic project update reports to donors
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 2007-Present
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Gender Studies Department
International Development Studies Program
Middle East & North African Studies Program Global Studies Program
Sociology Department
Courses Taught:
•Sexy, Cyber, & Revolutionary Bodies: Fashion, Fantasy, & the Politics of Embodiment
•Sex from Biology to Gendered Society (team-taught, inter-disciplinary, large lecture course)
•Gender, Violence, & Globalization (graduate seminar)
•Sexing International Development: Gender, Sexuality & International Development Studies •Women Writing Diaspora: Sexuality, Revolution, & Exile in the Middle East and North Africa •Global Politics of Reproduction (large lecture course)
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY2011-2012
Mellon Research Fellow & Visiting Faculty
Program in Critical Theory Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies Department
•Pursued research with Judith Butler on sexual violence, fantasy, and formulations
of democracy, recognition, resistance, and precarity in the Arab Spring
•Designed and taught seminars in Women Writing Diaspora: Sexuality, Revolution, & Exile in the Middle East North Africa; Feminist Theory; Representation & Resistance
ERNST & YOUNG, Chicago, IL1998-2000
Senior Consultant, International Business & Tax Services
• Assisted Fortune 500 clients to identify and implement tax planning strategies in the US and overseas
• Researched and monitored quarterly changes to international tax law and regulations
• Managed consulting team on overseas project in the Netherlands; developed team practices to promote efficient work flow; prepared periodic reports to evaluate project scope and budget
SIDLEY & AUSTIN, Chicago, IL1997-1998
Legal Assistant, International Commodities Litigation & Financial Transactions
• Prepared and maintained closing books for Fortune 500 client M&A transactions
• Prepared articles of incorporation, organization, limited partnership filings, and related documents; drafted formation, merger, and dissolution filings; conducted UCC searches and prepared stock certificates and documents related to stock issuances; reserved corporate names, filed EIN applications, and conducted business entity searches; monitored changes to laws, guidelines, and regulations; conducted trademark searches; assisted with copyright applications and filing; and provided due diligence support with corporate transactions
• Assisted attorneys with case management, including preparing trial and exhibit binders, deposition summaries, document review, redactions, categorizing and indexing of documents
• Researched legal issues, conducted discovery, and assisted with the drafting of legal briefs for commodities litigation
• Co-edited ABA anthology on international women's human rights law & treaties
• Translated French legal and artistic documents
• Conducted pro bono research for a Nazi art reclamation case
ACCENTURE, Hartford, CT1993-1994
Staff Consultant, International Business Systems Integration
• Provided systems integration consulting to Fortune 500 clients, including system architecture and design; Cobol, Visual Basic GUI and C+ coding; and systems testing
• Automated mail processing system for the Canadian Postal Service
• Translated French business documents
SELECT AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
- Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Islamic Feminist Studies, Wheaton College, MA, 2012-2014.
- Mellon Research Fellowship, Program in Critical Theory, UC Berkeley, 2011-2012.
- Ms. Writers’ Workshop for Feminist Scholars, Spring 2010.
•. Tillie Olsen Research Scholar Grant, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, 2008-2009.
- Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Carleton College, 2004-2006.
•George Eliot Dissertation Award, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, Spring 2003.
•. Chancellor’s Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA, 2002-2003.
•. Research Fellowship, UC Transnational & Transcolonial Multi-Campus Research Group, 2001-2002.
• Chancellor’s Fellowship, UCLA, 2000-2004.
•. First Prize, Student Essay Contest, The Drama Review (TDR), Spring 1996.
•. University Fellowship, Northwestern University, 1995-1997.
SELECTPUBLICATIONS (Full list available upon request)
Books:
- Between Image & Identity: Transnational Fantasy, Symbolic Violence, & Feminist Misrecognition (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/ Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).
- ‘Please Don’t Make Me a Joke’: Femininity, the Sexual Politics of Celebrity, and the (In)visible Archives of Marilyn Monroe (anthology; in progress)
Book chapters:
• “The Ugly, the Uninvited, and the Unseen in the Work of Sia & Emma Sulkowicz” in Sara Rodrigues and Ela Przybylo, eds, On the Politics of Ugliness (forthcoming 2018, Palgrave Macmillan).
•“An (Im)modest Revolution?: Nudity, Modest Fashion & Cultural Appropriation on the Global Runway” in L. AyuSaraswati, Barbara Shaw, and Heather Rellihan, eds., Introduction to Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches (forthcoming 2018, Oxford University Press).
•“Undressing Revolution: The Politics of Rage and Aesthetics in Aliaa Elmahdy’s Body Activism” in Frances Hasso and ZakiaSalime, eds., Borders, Embodiments, & Intimate Politics in the Arab Revolutions (September 2016, Duke University Press).
•“Visualizing the American Girl Family: Multiracial Femininity, National Belonging, & the Politics of Memory”, in Michael Fuchs, ed., ConFiguring America: Iconic Figures, Visuality, and American Identity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, April 2013.)
Articles:
•“Sex(t)ing Revolution, Femen-izing Protest: Aliaa Al-Mahdy, Nudity, & Transnational Feminist Body Politics”, Gendered Bodies in the Protest Sphere symposium, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30:1 (Fall 2014).
• “Hello Norma Jeane”, Ms. blog (August 2012).
• “Re-framing the Colonial Gaze: Photography, Ownership, and Feminist Resistance”, MLN 118:4 (September 2003).
•“The Brandon Teena Story: Rethinking the Body, Gender Identity, and Violence Against Women,” Michigan Feminist Studies 16 (Fall 2002).
• “Grrl Bands: Performing Ugliness as Resistance,” TDR (The Drama Review, MIT Press), 41:3 (T155), Spring 1997.
SELECT PRESENTATIONS
- Guest Panelist, Hook-Up Culture & Sexual Assault, USC DOZ, November 2017.
- Panel Moderator, Opened Conference, USC/ Amber Rose Foundation, October 2017.
- “Re-faming Revolution: Precarity, Intimate Politics, Visual Memory & Diva Citizenship from Tahrir Square to Gezi Park”, Gender & Peace Conference, Istanbul, May 2017.
- Keynote Respondent, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture Symposium, “States of Emergence: Gender, Race, the Poetics of Embodiment”, USC, April 2017.
- “Undressing Revolution: The Politics of Rage Aesthetics in Aliaa Elmahdy’s Body Activism.” Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, March 2016.
- “Sex(t)ing Revolution: Aliaa Elmahdy, Nude Protest, and Transnational Feminist Body Politics.” Gender Institute, London School of Economics, London, UK, January 2015.
- “Sex(t)ing Revolution, Re-membering the Public Square: Aliaa Al-Mahdy, Nude Protest, & Transnational Feminist Body Politics.” Gendered Geographies of the Arab Revolutions Workshop. Duke University, December 2013.
- “Sex(t)ing the Revolution, Negotiating Desire: Sexuality, Cyberspace, and Transnational Feminist Body Politics.” 2013 Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies Distinguished Lecture and Research Workshop: Gender and Activism in the Middle East. Yale University, April 2013.
- “Staging National Belonging: Female Bodies, Blogs & Battlefields in the ‘Arab Spring’”. Narrating the Arab Spring Conference, Women’s Memory Forum. Cairo, Feb. 2012.
- “Talking Dirty, Occupying Desire: Sexual Fantasy, Violence, & Recognition in Lila dit ca”. Program in Critical Theory, UC Berkeley, April 2012.
•Moderator, “ Lila dit ca”. Film screening and discussion. Sex Positive Week, California State University, Long Beach, Feb. 2011.
•Moderator, “Framing the Hijab: National Identity, Diaspora, & Symbolic Politics”. Panel discussion organized by the Muslim Students’ Association, UCLA, Feb. 2011.
•Keynote Speaker, UCLA Women’s Studies Program Commencement.
•“The Startling Force of Imagery: Nationalism, Orientalism, and Representations of Muslim Women Post-9/11”. Texas Woman’s University.
•“Headscarves & Beyond: Negotiating Transnational Feminist Politics of Alliance and Difference”. Annual convention of the MLA, Chicago.
•“Visualizing Identity: Sexuality, National Fantasy, and Decolonization in Assia Djebar’s L’amour, la fantasia”. Barnard College.
•“Fixing the Subject: Frantz Fanon, Leila Sebbar, and Colonial Photography”. Center for the Humanities and Department of English, Harvard University.
•“On Fantasy & Butterflies: Resisting the Oriental Gaze.” Center for East Asian Studies, Yale University.
•“Witches, Bitches, & Fluids: Ugliness as Resistance in Contemporary Grrl Bands.” “Re-presenting Rock” conference, Duke University.
MEDIA SPOTS (INTERVIEWS; TV, FILM & DOCUMENTARY APPEARANCES)
Available upon request
COMMUNITY SERVICE
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS OFFICE, Middletown, CT Alumni Admissions Committee Member
WORLD WOMAN FOUNDATION, Los Angeles, CA Director, Partnerships
MY BEAUTY, INC., Los Angeles, CA
Board of Directors
GEENA DAVIS INSTITUTE ON GENDER IN MEDIA, Los Angeles, CA
RISE STUDENT ALLIANCE AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE, USC, Los Angeles, CA
PEACE OVER VIOLENCE, Los Angeles, CA
NO ON PROP 8, Los Angeles, CA
THE FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION,
Los Angeles, CA
RAPE VICTIM ADVOCATES, Chicago, IL
ACLU, Chicago, IL
PLANNED PARENTHOOD, Middletown, CT
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
National Women's Studies Association
Middle Eastern Women's Studies Association
Modern Language Association
OVERSEAS FIELDWORK
Sahrawi Refugee Camp, Tindouf, Algeria/ Morocco
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
French
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
COBOL, C++, VISUAL BASIC, SQL, HTML
REFERENCES
Judith Butler
Maxine Elliot Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature;
Co-director of the Program of Critical Theory
7408 Dwinelle Hall
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
P: (510) 642.1415
Email:
Francoise Lionnet, Dissertation Committee Chair
Professor of French Francophone Studies
Harvard University
Email:
UCLA
Box 951539, 212 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA 90095-1539
P: (310) 206.6096
Email:
Christine Littleton
Vice Provost, Diversity & Faculty Development Former Chair, Women's Studies Department UCLA Office for Faculty Diversity & Development
Box 951405, 3134 Murphy Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405
P: (310) 206.7411
Email:
Pardis Mahdavi
Senior Associate Dean,
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Anna and John J. Sie International Relations Complex
University of Denver
2201 South Gaylord Street
Denver, CO 80208
(303) 871.4037
Email:
Marques Anderson
Founder, World Education Foundation
Email: