Kelly L. Watson
PhD
Academic Positions
West Virginia University - Morgantown, WV
Assistant Director and Service Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Fall 2020 - Present
Avila University – Kansas City, MO
Associate Professor of History, 2018 – 2020
(Inaugural) Director of the Avila Honors Program, 2019 – 2020
Director of Study Abroad Programs, 2019 – 2020
Affiliate Faculty of Women’s and Gender Studies, 2012 – 2020
Avila University – Kansas City, MO
Assistant Professor of History, 2012 – 2018
Saint Mary’s College – Notre Dame, IN
Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Women’s Studies, 2011 – 2012
Education
PhD in American Culture Studies, August 2010
Bowling Green State University – Bowling Green, OH
Primary Field: Early American History
Secondary Fields: Latin America
Dissertation: “’I Laid my Hands on a Gorgeous Cannibal Woman:’ Anthropophagy in the Imperial Imagination, 1492 – 1763”
Graduate Certificate in Ethnic Studies, August 2010
Bowling Green State University – Bowling Green, OH
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, August 2010
Bowling Green State University – Bowling Green, OH
M.A. in American Culture Studies, August 2006
Bowling Green State University
B.A. in American Studies and Ancient Studies, May 2002
University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Baltimore, MD
Publications and Manuscripts
Monographs
Insatiable Appetites: Imperial Encounters with Cannibals and the North Atlantic World. Part of the Early American Places series. New York University Press. Hardback edition: 2015. Paperback edition: 2017.
Peer- Reviewed Journal Articles
“Mary Kittamaquund Brent, ‘The Pocahontas of Maryland:’ Sex, Marriage and Diplomacy in the 17th century Chesapeake.” Early American Studies. Accepted for publication (pending minor revisions)
Chapters in Edited Collections
“Sex and Cannibalism: The Politics of Carnal Relations between Europeans and American ‘Anthropophagites.’” Forthcoming in To Feast on Us as Their Prey: Cannibalism in the Early Modern Atlantic edited by Rachel Herrmann (University of Arkansas Press. Available February 2019). Winner of the 2020 Association for the Study of Food and Society Edited Anthology Book Award.
Other Peer-Reviewed Publications:
“Cannibalism.” Oxford Bibliographies in "Atlantic History." Edited by Trevor Burnard. New York: Oxford University Press, 28 November 2018. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0307.xml
“The Enigmatic Spinster.” Essay published on the peer-reviewed blog Nursing Clio. October 12, 2017. https://nursingclio.org/2017/10/12/the-enigmatic-spinster/
Book Reviews:
Tortorici, Zeb. Sins Against Nature: Sex and Archives in Colonial New Spain. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. The Journal of American History (forthcoming)
Yaremko, Jason. Indigenous Passages to Cuba. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2016. The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History, vol. 75, no. 2 (April 2018).
Davies, Surekha. Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters. Cambridge University Press, 2016. Journal of Jesuit Studies, vol. 5, issue 1 (2018).
Curtis M. Hinsley and David R. Wilcox, eds. Coming of Age in Chicago: the 1893 World’s Fair and the Coalescence of American Anthropology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Journal of American History vol. 103, no. 3 (December 2016).
Githire, Njeri. Cannibal Writes: Eating Others in Caribbean and Indian Ocean Women’s Writing. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. New West Indian Guide, vol. 90, Issue 3-4 (2016).
Eustace, Nicole. Passion is the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution. Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2008. Journal of American Studies, vol. 44, issue 1 (February 2010).
Miller, Christopher L. The French Atlantic Triangle: Literature and Culture of the Slave Trade. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008. Atlantic Studies: Literary, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, vol. 6, issue 1 (April 2009).
Weaver-Hightower, Rebecca. Empire Islands: Castaways, Cannibals, and Fantasies of Conquest. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Atlantic Studies: Literary, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, vol. 5, issue 1 (April 2008)
Works in Progress
“The Inheritance of ‘Princess’ Mary Kittamaquund Brent: Piscataway Matrilineality and Tayac Succession in a Cross-Cultural Context.” Article in preparation.
“’Margaret Brent, Spinster:’ Marital Status, Catholic Identity, and Power in Colonial Maryland.” Journal article in progress.
Spinsters and Bachelors: Opting out of Sex in Early America. Book project in progress.
“Masculinity, Captivity, and Revenge on the Appalachian Frontier: The Life and Times of Lewis Wetzel.” Research in progress
Fellowships and Awards
Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas, Visiting Regional Faculty Fellow, (postponed until 2021)
Avila University Distinguished Scholar for 2017-2018
Avila University Competitive Faculty Scholarship Grant, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
Avila University History Department Travel Grant, 2015
Bowling Green State University, Program in American Cultural Studies nominee for Dissertation of the Year, 2010.
Bowling Green State University Distinguished Dissertation Fellow, Fall 2009 – Summer 2010
Awarded a competitive non-service dissertation fellowship
Bowling Green State University Graduate Assistantship, Fall 2004 – Spring 2009
Awarded a competitive tuition waiver and assistantship
Teaching Experience
Introductory
Early American History Survey
Avila University, Fall 2012-2020
Saint Mary’s College, Fall 2011
Bowling Green State University, Spring 2009
Bowling Green State University (Co-Instructor), Fall 2008
Modern American History Survey
Avila University, Spring 2013-2015, 2017-2020
Saint Mary’s College, Spring 2012
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Saint Mary’s College, Fall 2011 and Spring 2012
Cultural Pluralism in the United States
Bowling Green State University, Fall 2010
African American History
Owens Community College, Fall 2010
Upper Division
American Slavery and the Slave Trade
Avila University, Fall 2012, Spring 2015, Spring 2018, Spring 2020
Bowling Green State University, Spring 2011
Images and Realities of Gender (co-taught with Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies)
Avila University, Spring 2014 - 2020
Sex and Sexuality in America
Avila University, Fall 2017 and Fall 2019
Historical Research
Avila University, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, and Fall 2019
Revolutionary America to 1815
Avila University, Fall 2012, Spring 2016, Spring 2019
American Women’s History
Avila University, Spring 2013, Fall 2015, and Fall 2018
Senior Thesis
Avila University, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, and Fall 2018
American Frontiers
Avila University, Spring 2014 and Spring 2017
Revolutionary America to 1815
Avila University, Fall 2012 and Spring 2016
American Empires
Avila University, Fall 2020
Race, Sex, and Gender in the Americas, 1400-1800
Saint Mary’s College, Spring 2012
Latin America Before Independence
Bowling Green State University, Fall 2010
Graduate
Scholarship and Professional Development
Bowling Green State University, Spring 2010
Online
Frontiers in American Culture
Bowling Green State University, Summer 2009
Cultural Pluralism in the United States
Bowling Green State University, Summer 2007
Selected Presentations
Invited Talks
“The Specter of Cannibalism: Mechanisms of Imperialism and Power in English Captivity Narratives” at William Woods University – Fulton, MO (October 19, 2018)
“Cannibalism and the Process of Othering in North America.” Annual Humanities Lecture. Invited Presentation at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA – March 30, 2017
Presentation and Discussion of Insatiable Appetites with Upper School Students at the Barstow School in Kansas City, MO – November 10, 2016
Selected Conference Presentations
Eighteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities—Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland—May 2020 (cancelled due to COVID-19)
Panel Organizer: Agency, Exploitation, and Assimilation: Marriage and Women’s Power in Early North America
Presentation: Negotiating Land and Power in Piscataway Country: Contextualizing the 1644 Marriage of Mary Kittamaquund and Giles Brent
Twenty-Fourth Annual Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Conference – College of Willian and Mary, Williamsburg, VA – June 2018
Panel Organizer: “Sex, Spinsters, and Scandal: Marriage and Power in the Greater Chesapeake”
Presentation: “’Margaret Brent, Spinster:’ Marital Status, Catholic Identity, and Power in Colonial Maryland.”
(En)Gendering the Atlantic World – New York University – April 2018
Presentation: “Mary Kittamaquund’s Body: Negotiating Sex, Diplomacy, and Religion in Early Colonial Maryland”
Pocahontas and After – Eccles Center for American Studies at the British Library, London UK – March 2017
Presentation: “Sexual Diplomacy and Anglo-Indian Relations in Early Colonial Maryland: Mary Kittamaquund and the Brent Family”
Cannibalism in the Early Modern Atlantic – University of Southampton (UK) – June 2015
Panel Moderator: Challenging the ‘British’ Atlantic
Presentation: ““Sex and Cannibalism: The Politics of Carnal Relations between Europeans and American ‘Anthropophagites’”
1619: The Making of America – Norfolk State University – Sept. 2013
Presentation: “Cannibalism in Jamestown: Fascination, Fantasy, Fiction, and Fact”
Race, Gender, and Sexualities in the Atlantic World – Carolina Lowcountry in the Atlantic World Program at the College of Charleston – Mar. 2012
Presentation: "An Examination of Gender, Sex and Empire in the Discourse of Cannibalism in the Late 15th and Early 16th Century
Caribbean"
Tenth Ohio Latin Americanist Conference – Bowling Green State University – Feb. 2011
Presentation: “Discursive Constructions of Cannibalism and Sodomy in the Conquest of Mexico”
Latin American/Latino Studies Conference – Bowling Green State University – Mar. 2009
Panel Moderator: Power and Gender in Latin America
Presentation: “The Cannibal and the Conquistador: Gendered Anxieties and Anthropophagy in the Conquest of Mexico”
The Chimalpahin Conference 2008: Colonial and Post-Colonial Remembering and Forgetfulness (III), Special Session on Gendered Empires – Mexico City, MX – Oct. 2008
Presentation: “’I Laid My Hands on a Gorgeous Cannibal Woman:’ Cannibalism, Gender, and Sex, in the ‘Discovery’ of the Americas
Beholding Violence: A Conference on Medieval and Early Modern Culture – Bowling Green State University – Feb. 2008
Panel Moderator: Death as/and Spectatorship
Presentation: “Arousing America: Cannibalism and Conquest in the ‘New World’”
Crossing Over Symposium – Cleveland State University – Oct. 2007
Presentation: “The Beneficent Necessity of Cannibalism: A Narrative of Cultural and National Identity”
The Four Corners of the Atlantic, 1500-2000, Interdisciplinary Atlantic Studies Workshop – University of Michigan and Michigan State University –
May 2007
Paper Title: “Representing the Cannibal: Gender and Cannibalism in the New World”
Media and Community Presentations
Co-moderated online discussion of To Feast on Us as Their Prey: Cannibalism and the Early Modern Atlantic (with Rachel Herrmann, Cardiff University). Reddit Ask Historians (r/AskHistorians) “Ask Me Anything (AMA),” March 11, 2019. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/azt0aa/im_dr_rachel_herrmann_ill_be_back_today_march/
Public Reading for Corpus Verbum Performance Series in Kansas City, MO – July 1, 2018
Public Reading for Corpus Verbum Performance Series in Kansas City, MO – August 18, 2017
Podcast Interview by James Esposito with New Books Network (sponsored by Amherst College Press) – Available at
Selected Campus Presentations
Keynote Lecture for Student Scholar Day – Avila University – April 2019
"Embodied Encounters between Europeans and Native Americans in the Early Modern Atlantic World." Distinguished Scholar Presentation – Avila University April 2018
“Women and Gender in Genre Fiction.” Roundtable discussion – Avila University – November 2017
“Sexual Diplomacy and Anglo-Indian Relations in Early Colonial Maryland: Mary Kittamaquund and the Brent Family” – Presentation to College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences Faculty Scholarship Workgroup – February 2017
“Cannibalism and Imperial Power in Colonial North America” – Avila University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Scholarship Spotlight –
November 2015
Professional Development & University Service
Service to the University - Avila University
Elected member of the Rank and Tenure Committee, Fall 2019 – Present
Member of Honor’s Program Task Force, Spring 2018 – Present
Co-writer (with Ashley Fansher) of the proposal for a new Honors Program
Member of Promotion and Tenure Peer-Review Committee for Abigail Lambke (English) – Fall 2018
Appointed member of the University Reorganization Taskforce, Fall 2017 – Spring 2018
Appointed member of the Dean's Transfer Student Task Force. Avila University, Fall 2015 - 2017
Appointed member of the University Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Task Force on Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness. Avila University, Fall 2015 – Present
Elected member of the Admissions and Academic Progress Committee. Avila University, Fall 2014 - Present
History Department Liaison to the School of Education. Avila University, Spring 2014 - Present
History Content Area Supervisor for Social Studies Secondary Education Students. Avila University, Spring 2014 – Present
History Department Academic Advisor. Avila University, Spring 2013 – Present
History Department Liaison to the Office of Marketing and Communications for the Departmental Website Redesign. Avila University, 2013
Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee. Avila University, Spring 2013 - Present
Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Council. Avila University, Fall 2012 - Present
Avila University Faculty Assembly, Fall 2012 - Present
Member of the Foundations Curriculum Revision Task Force
Member of First Year Seminar Task Force
Elected member of the American Culture Studies Advisory Board. Bowling Green State University, 2009-2010
Service to the Profession
Manuscript Reviewer for Journal of Early American History, Journal of American History and New England Quarterly
Member of the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture, 2017 – Present
Panel Moderator for “Decolonial Approaches” at the Pocahontas and After: Historical Culture and Transatlantic Encounters, University of London – March 2017
Panel Moderator for “Challenging the ‘British’ Atlantic” at the Cannibalism in the Early Modern Atlantic Conference at the University of Southampton (UK) – June 2015
Member of the American Historical Association. 2009 – Present
Advanced Placement US History Exam Grader, 2011 – 2014
Panel Moderator for “Power and Gender in Latin America” at the Latin American/Latino Studies Conference at Bowling Green State University –
Mar. 2009
Panel Moderator for “Death as/and Spectatorship” at the Beholding Violence: A Conference on Medieval and Early Modern Culture Conference at Bowling Green State University – Feb. 2008
Editorial assistant for Eithne Luibheid, Regional Editor for Women’s Studies International Forum. Bowling Green State University, Fall 2004 – Spring 2005
Other Professional Development
Title IX Responsible Personal Training. Avila University. Fall 2016.
Online Pedagogy Training. Saint Mary’s College, Spring 2012
Member of the Professional Development Group “Writing Visual Culture” at the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society/ Bowling Green
State University, 2006 – 2008
Online Facilitation Training conducted by Interactive Distance Education for all Learners (IDEAL). Bowling Green State University, Spring 2007
Archaeological Lab Assistant, R. Christopher Goodwin and Associates (Frederick, MD)
Professional References
Available Upon Request