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McGarry Karen, Associate Professor | Undergraduate Chair

photo of Karen McGarry

Karen McGarry

Associate Professor | Undergraduate Chair

Faculty
Department of Anthropology

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Research & Supervisory Interests

My fieldwork spans the sub-disciplines of archaeology and socio-cultural anthropology. My primary research interests include the anthropology of sport, spectacle, and mass media, and material culture theory and interpretation. My doctoral and post-doctoral research among Olympic-level Canadian figure skaters examined the ways in which dominant definitions of Canadian nationalism merge with the performance of particular identities of race, class, gender, and sexuality within the sport. More recently, I have conducted research on issues of masculinity within high performance swimming, and scuba diving tourism in the Virgin Islands. I am a member of the "Sports Legacies Research Collaborative" at the University of Toronto.

I have also conducted research within the field of educational anthropology and am interested in critical race theory within the context of multiculturalism and higher education curriculum development.

Dr. McGarry will consider taking MA students with interests in the anthropology of sport, spectacle and mass media or critical educational anthropology, including multicultural education.

Education

PhD - Social Anthropology, York University

Hons BA and MA - Anthropology (emphasis in archaeology), Trent University

Teaching

Search course offerings in Anthropology

 

Courses (2022-2023)

Fall

  • ANTHROP 3PD3 - Anthropological Perspectives and Debates
  • ANTHROP 4DD3 - Anthropology of Zombies and the Undead 

Winter

  • ANTHROP 1AA3 - Introduction to Anthropology: Sex, Food and Death
  • ANTHROP 3P03 - Doing Ethnography: Theory and Research Methods
  • ANTHROP 3TR3 - The Anthropology of Tourism 

 

Courses (2021-2022)

Fall

  • ANTHROP 3PD3 - Anthropological Perspectives and Debates
  • ANTHROP 3TR3 - The Anthropology of Tourism
  • ANTHROP 701 - Readings: Cultural Anthropology
  • ANTHROP 714 - Readings: In Archaeology 

Winter

  • ANTHROP 1AA3 - Introduction to Anthropology: Sex, Food and Death
  • ANTHROP 1AB3 - Introduction to Anthropology: Race, Religion, and Conflict
  • ANTHROP 3P03 - Doing Ethnography: Theory and Research Methods
  • ANTHROP 4GG3 - Independent Research II

 

 

 

Research

Publications (Recent Selection)

 

Robbins, Richard, Maggie Cummings and Karen McGarry 2020 Socio-cultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach. Toronto: Cengage

Mannik, Lynda, and Karen McGarry (eds.) 2018 Practicing Ethnography: A Student Guide to Method and Methodologies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 

2017    Introduction. In: Practicing Ethnography: A Student Guide to Method and Methodologies, edited by Lynda Mannik and Karen McGarry. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 1-23.

2017    After Fieldwork: Analyzing Data. In: Practicing Ethnography: A Student Guide to Method and Methodologies, edited by Lynda Mannik and Karen McGarry. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 201-229.

2016 Cultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach. Third Canadian Edition. Co-authored with Richard Robbins and Maggie Cummings Toronto: Nelson.

2015 Visual Media, Representation and Educulturalism: Challenging Color Blindness and Racism within Canadian University Contexts. International Journal of Arts Education 9(3-4).

2015  Reclaiming Canadian Bodies: Visual Media and Representation. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Co-authored/edited with Lynda Mannik.

2013 Cultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach. Co-authored with Maggie Cummings, Richard Robbins and Sherry Larkin. Toronto: Nelson Education.

2011 (with Niki Thorne and B. Cummins). Canadian Multiculturalism and First Nations Sovereignty in Cayuga. In: White/First Nations Relations, edited by Mari Moss, Sabrina Volz, and Maryann Henck. pp. 122-245. Second author.

2011 Mass Media and Gender Identity in High Performance Canadian Figure Skating. In: The Gendered Society Reader, second edition, edited by Michael Kimmel, Amy Aronson, and Amy Kaler. Cambridge: Oxford University Press, pp. 321-332.

2010 Sport in Transition: Culture Change and Representation in the Anthropology of Sport. Reviews in Anthropology 39(3): 151-172.

2008 The Myth of Canadian Multiculturalism: The "Couple in the Cage" and Educulturalism. In: Undoing Whiteness in the Classroom: Critical Educultural Teaching Approaches for Social Justice Activism, edited by Virginia Lea and Erma Jean Sims. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 119-136.

2005 Mass Media and Masculinity in High Performance Canadian Figure Skating. The Sport Journal 8(1), Winter 2005. The United States Sports Academy.

2005 "Passing as a Lady." Nationalist Narratives of Class, Race, and Femininity in Elite Canadian Figure Skating. Genders 44, March 2005: 22-46.

2005 Femininity and Figure Skating: The Case of Josee Chouinard. Women and International Environments. Special Issue: Transmationality. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.