Research and teaching in the fields of early modern studies, Shakespeare, ecostudies, posthumanist theory, gender studies and related topics.
Research Interests
Professor Raber's research interests are wide and far-ranging: she has researched and written extensively on the role of the nonhuman (animals, objects, machines) in Shakespeare's works and other early modern texts, as well as materialist and posthumanist theory and ecostudies.
Biography
Karen Raber is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Mississippi, and Executive Director of the Shakespeare Association of America. Her work spans the areas of posthumanist theory, ecostudies, animal studies, and gender studies. She received her BA from Yale University and her PhD from the University of California, San Diego. Her book publications include Shakespeare and Animals, A Dictionary (2022), Shakespeare and Posthumanist Theory (2018), Animal Bodies, Renaissance Culture (2013), and Dramatic Difference: Gender, Class, and Genre in the Early Modern Closet Drama (2001); she has also written over forty articles and book chapters and has edited or coedited seven collections, including The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Animals (2022) coedited with Holly Dugan; Performing Animals: History, Agency, Theater (2017) coedited with Monica Mattfeld; and Early Modern Ecostudies: From Shakespeare to the Florentine Codex (Palgrave 2009) coedited with Ivo Kamps and Thomas Hallock.
Education
B.A. English, Yale University (1983)
Ph.D. Literature, University of California-San Diego (1995)