K.J. Rawson
Professor of English and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Director of the Humanities Center
K.J. Rawson works at the intersections of the Digital Humanities and Rhetoric, LGBTQ+, and Feminist Studies. Focusing on archives as key sites of cultural power, he studies the rhetorical work of queer and transgender archival collections in brick-and-mortar and digital spaces. Rawson is founder and director of the Digital Transgender Archive, an award-winning collection of trans-related historical materials, and he chairs the editorial board of the Homosaurus, an LGBTQ+ linked data vocabulary.
- 2024–2027 Mellon Foundation, Higher Learning Program Grant, “Establishing the Digital Transgender Archive at Mills College at Northeastern University” ($500,000)
- 2023–2026 National Endowment for the Humanities Research and Development Grant,
“Developing a Spanish-language Homosaurus: Using Multilanguage Linked Data to Enhance LGBTQ+ Resource Discoverability,” Co-PI with
Marika Cifor ($350,000) - 2022 Lavender Rhino Award, The History Project
- 2022–2025 CLIR Grant, “‘Y’all Better Quiet Down:’ Trans BIPOC Digitization Initiative”
- 2021-2022 Northeastern University Tier 1 Grant, “Establishing the Homosaurus at Northeastern University”
- 2021-2022 Faculty Fellowship, Northeastern University Humanities Center
- Kneupper Award for Best Essay Published in RSQ in 2018
- American Council of Learned Societies Digital Extension Grant, “Developing the Digital Transgender Archive” (2017–2018)
- American Council of Learned Societies Digital Innovation Fellowship, “Building the Digital Transgender Archive” (2015–2016)
“Archival Reckonings: Confronting White Supremacy in the Digital Transgender Archive.” The American Archivist, vol. 28, is. 2, Fall/Winter 2023: 545–564.
“Mediating Queer Pasts: The Homosaurus as Queer Information Activism.” Co-authored with Marika Cifor. Information, Communication & Society. 2022, pp. 1–18. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2072753.
“Investing in Project Maintenance: Auditing the Digital Transgender Archive.” Co-authored with Eamon Schlotterback and Cailin Flannery Roles. Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 1, 2022, http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/16/1/000611/000611.html.
“The Trans Rhetorical Practice of Archive Building.” The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric, edited by Jacqueline Rhodes and Jonathan Alexander, Routledge, 2022, pp. 77– 84.
“‘Disrupting Hierarchies of Knowledge:’ Student Writing in the Digital Transgender Archive Lab.” Co-authored with Mariel Aleman, Alice Galvinhill, and Keith Plummer. Inventing the Discipline: Student Writing in Composition, edited by Peter Moe and Stacey Waite. Parlor Press, 2022, http://inventingthediscipline.com/aleman.html.
“Button Rhetorics.” Transgender Studies Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4, 2021, pp. 539–541. “Marie Høeg: Portraits of a Gender Trailblazer.” Co-authored with Nicole Tantum. Journal of Visual Culture, vol. 19, no. 2, 2020, pp. 184–196.
Co-edited collection: “Transgender Rhetorics.” Peitho 22.4 (Summer 2020). Special issue co-edited with GPat Patterson. https://cfshrc.org/journal/peitho-volume-22-issue-4-summer-2020/.
“Living and Dying as a Gay Trans Man: Lou Sullivan’s Rhetorical Legacy.” Peitho, vol. 22, no. 4, Summer 2020, https://cfshrc.org/article/living-and-dying-as-a-gay-trans-man-lou-sullivans-rhetoricallegacy/.
-
Education
PhD in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, 2010, Syracuse University
-
Contact
-
Address
RP 450E
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115 -
Office Hours
Thursdays, 9:30am–10:30am
-
Associations
Related Stories
-
Introduction to Rhetoric
ENGL 1160
Introduces students to major concepts, traditions, and issues in rhetorical studies. Explores the range of ways that people persuade others to change their minds or take action; the relationship among language, truth, and knowledge; and the role of language in shaping identity and culture. Focuses on recognized thinkers from the Western tradition as well as writers that challenge the rhetorical canon. Emphasizes contemporary and interdisciplinary approaches to rhetoric interested in the entire range of rhetorical artifacts, with primary attention given to methods of critically investigating texts and their effects.
-
Opening the (Queer) Archive
ENGL 4400
Delve into rich, quirky, and campy queer archives! From ‘zines to buttons, photographs to high heels, this course invites you to sift through queer pasts as we consider how those pasts are compiled, sorted, and opened up for our use. This course counts towards the WGSS minor.
Queer Digital Curation
ENGL 7380
Developed at the intersection of theory and practice, this course will introduce students to queer theory in the context of digital curation. Digital curation refers to the selection, organization, preservation, and representation of digital resources; it is largely focused on efficiency, structure, and use. Queer theory, on the other hand, critically investigates cultural normativities related to sex, sexuality, and gender; it often values disruption, deconstruction, and play. A queer approach to digital curation, then, will allow us to unpack the invisible norms of digital environments as we think through the effects of digital tools, particularly those used for social justice purposes. There will be a hands-on unit of this course; however, prior knowledge of LGBTQ+ issues or the digital humanities is not expected––all students are welcome in this course.
