Participant Info

First Name
Kelly
Last Name
Watson
Country
United States
State
WV West Virginia
Affiliation
West Virginia University
Website URL
https://www.kellylwatson.com/
Keywords
gender history, Atlantic world, history of sex and sexuality, cannibalism, women's history, imperialism, colonialism, women's studies
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I currently serve as the Assistant Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at West Virginia University. Prior to this, I was an Associate Professor of History at Avila University in Kansas City, MO.

I am an interdisciplinary historian of sex, sexuality, gender, and race in early modern North America. I am particularly invested in examining the roles of sex and sexuality in encounters between European/US empires and Indigenous nations.

 

Recent Publications

  • “Mary Kittamaquund Brent, ‘The Pocahontas of Maryland:’ Sex, Marriage and Diplomacy in the 17th century Chesapeake.” Early American Studies, vol. 19, no 1 (Winter 2021): 24-63.

  • “Sex and Cannibalism: The Politics of Carnal Relations between Europeans and American ‘Anthropophagites.’” 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.

  • “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  

  • 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.

Media Coverage
Country Focus
North America
Expertise by Geography
Atlantic, Caribbean, England, North America, United States
Expertise by Chronology
Pre-17th century, 17th century, 18th century, Early Modern
Expertise by Topic
Colonialism, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Race, Sexuality, Women