Carolyn Kuchera

Carolyn Kuchera

Associate Professor

ckuchera@unm.edu
505-863-7602
Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Division


My current research centers on Indigenous poet and writer Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma Pubelo) in particular, and on representations of reservation border towns more generally. My essay "Poetry and Protest: Simon J. Ortiz's writings on the reservation border town of 萝莉研究所, NM" appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of Interdisciplinary Humanities. I will be presenting a selection from my most recent essay "Simon J. Ortiz and the Power of Recognition" at the American Literature Association's Annual Conference in July 2021.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, crossword puzzles, cards, board games, and-if I'm being completely honest-watching too much TV. I love to explore the natural beauty of the region through camping, mountain biking, hiking, and backpacking.

  • PhD, University of New Mexico, 2011, English
  • MA, Portland State University, 2006, English
  • BA, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, 2001, English
  • English 100: Integrated Reading & Writing
  • English 1100: Accelerated Composition
  • English 1120: Composition II
  • English 1410: The Study of Literature
  • English 2120: Intermediate Composition

Nearly 15 years of experience teaching Composition and Literature courses at institutions, including UNM-Albuquerque, Central New Mexico Community College, and UNM-萝莉研究所.

  • "Poetry and Protest: Simon J. Ortiz's writings on the reservation border town of 萝莉研究所, NM." Interdisciplinary Humanities (Fall 2019): 61-72.
  • Kuchera, Carolyn. "Manifest Destiny." In Oxford Bibliographies in American Literature. Eds. Jackson Bryer, Richard Kopley, and Paul Lauter. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • "A Recovered Interview with W.D. Howells." American Literary Realism 44.1 (Fall 2011): 74-79.
  • "Simon J. Ortiz and the Power of Recognition." American Literature Association Annual Conference. Boston, July 2021.
  • "Poetry and Protest: Simon J. Ortiz's writings on the reservation border town of 萝莉研究所, NM." Western Literature Association Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO, October 2018.
  • "Broken Spokes: Cultural and Commercial Transit in the Indigenous Hub of 萝莉研究所, NM." Western Literature Association Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO, October 2018.
  • "Farming on the Margins: Interpreting Agricultural Borderlands." American Literature Association Symposium on Frontiers and Borders in American Literature. San Antonio, TX, February 2016.
  • "American Rhythms: Composing Local and National Identity through Music Criticism in the WPA State Guides." Western Literature Association Annual Conference. Victoria, British Columbia, November 2014.
  • "Abandoned Farmhouses and Burnt Teepees: Hamlin Garland's Tangled Sympathies." MLA Annual Convention. Chicago, IL, January 2014.
  • "Labor(ed) Decisions in Two American Farm Novels from the 1920s." American Literature Association Annual Conference. Boston, MA, May 2013.
  • "The Rhetorical Origins of the American Farmer" North Carolina State University. "Manifest Identity: Graduate Student Symposium." Raleigh, NC, February 2011.
  • "American Primitives." Northern Arizona University. "Intellectual Intersections: A Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference." Flagstaff, AZ, February 2011.
  • "American Primitives." University of Georgia. "Wild Things Conference." Athens, GA, November 2010.
  • "American Primitives." Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Annual Convention. Albuquerque, NM, October 2010.
  • "Through Dread and Beyond in Great Expectations." Western Conference on British Studies. San Antonio, TX, September 2008.
  • "(Un)Framing the Nation: Sara Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs." Southwest Symposium. Albuquerque, NM, March 2008.