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The Humanities Center welcomes Karen Piper, 2009-10 Fellow.

Karen Piper's research focuses on globalization, colonial/neo-colonial discourse, and the rhetoric of "development." With a Master's degree in Environmental Studies and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, she has always pursued interdisciplinary projects focusing on the language of resource scarcity and distribution.  Her first book, Cartographic Fictions: Maps, Race, and Identity (Rutgers 2001), looks at the evolution of mapping technology in the British colonies--from triangulation to GIS--as a way to gain distance and control over local populations.  Her second book, Left in the Dust: How Race ad Politics Created a Human and Environmental Tragedy in L.A. (Palgrave Macmillan 2006), examines the environmental justice issues surrounding water pollution and scarcity in Los Angeles. Currently, at Carnegie Mellon, she is working on a book about World Bank rhetoric regarding water privatization, including in India, South Africa, Bolivia, and Iraq, as well as the mass protests movements emerging around the world against the privatization, or corporate control, of water.  She has also published in journals and books including Cultural Critique, the American Indian Quarterly, MELUS, and Postcolonial Literatures: Expanding the Canon. She received the Sierra Nature Writing Award, a National Endowment of the Humanities grant, and a Huntington fellowship.

The Humanities Center welcomes Karen Piper, 2009-10 Fellow.

2009-10 Lecture Series:
Global Connections, Global Responsibilities

Faces of Globalization, the 2010 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival - March 25-April 24

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