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About Me

As a historian, my work is focused on the roles white women play(ed) in the ongoing attempted genocide of Indigenous peoples across the country and the intergenerational transfer of white supremacy that sanction(ed) their participation. Specifically, I’m examining white women’s roles in settler colonialism, child removals (to boarding schools and the foster care system), as well as forced sterilization and the “reform” of Indian women. I am investigating their prioritization of race over gender and how they use maternalism and other tools of white supremacy to further their own interests. Last, I am interested in the transmittal of white supremacy across generations of women throughout history and into contemporary society.

By day, I’m the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian (GWSL) for the University of Wisconsin. Created in 1977, the Office of the GWSL is one of the premier resources for support of gender and women’s studies and LGBTQ+ scholarship and librarianship in the country. In this capacity, I coordinate the Wisconsin Women Making History project, a bibliography series, and more. In 2019, served as the Wisconsin coordinator of the Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the US and was named to the executive committee of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ 19th Amendment Suffrage Centennial Committee. I am currently the book reviews editor and a member of the board for the Coordinating Council for Women in History.

I am also a freelance writer and book reviewer centering the books of women writers and writers of other underrepresented communities. I am a regular contributor to Ms. magazine online and in print and am a member of the Ms. Committee of Scholars. I have articles, book reviews, and interviews published and forthcoming in Ms., Journal of American History, Canadian Journal of History, Gay & Lesbian Review, The Progressive, Sierra: The Magazine of the Sierra Club, Foreword Reviews, Pulp Magazine, The Startup, Library Management, and Resources for Gender and Women’s Studies: A Feminist Review. I also practice critical genealogy.

I hold a bachelor’s in history and women’s studies from Carroll College (Wisconsin), a master’s in library and information science from UW-Milwaukee, and a doctorate in information science from the University of Pretoria (South Africa). See my website for more info and writing clips. 

Recent Publications

• Strand, Karla J. (2018-present). Ms. Feminist-Know-It-All [monthly digital column]. Ms.
• Strand, Karla J. (2019-present). Bookmarks [regular column in print magazine]. Ms.
• —. (2024). White Women’s Participation in the Attempted Genocide of Native American Peoples. In L. Francis & J. Gray, Feminists Talk Whiteness (pp. 37-58). Routledge.
• —. (2022, Mar. 18). As Book Bans Target LGBTQ+ Writers and Writers of Color, Here’s What Banned Books We’re Reading. Ms. Magazine.
• —. (2021, Dec. 9). Wisconsin Republicans Introduce Bill Authorizing Sandhill Crane Hunt. Sierra: The Magazine of The Sierra Club.
• —. (2021, Nov. 10). “You Better Be Lightning”: Andrea Gibson on Gratitude and Peace Through Poetry. Ms.
• —. (2021, Oct. 21). Congress Must Care for Care Workers. The Progressive Magazine.
• —. (2021, Oct. 11). “Respect Us, or Expect Us”: Indigenous Women Continue to Fight Against Pipeline 3. Ms.
• —. (2021, Oct. 8). Elizabeth Warren “Pinkie Promises” to Keep Fighting for Feminism. Ms.
• —. (2021, Sept. 20). Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice to Coincide with U.N. General Assembly: “Life Itself Hangs in the Balance.” Ms.
• —. (2021, Summer). The role of libraries in the leadership development of women and girls worldwide. Knovvmads Magazine 2, 18-20.
• —. (2020, Nov. 24). The Ms. Q&A: Sara Sinclair on the Imperative of Indigenous Voices. Ms.
• —. (Sept/Oct 2020). Where the Binary Never Ruled [Review of Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary by Sasha Geffen (2020).] Gay & Lesbian Review 73, 35-36.
• —. (2020, Sept.-Oct.). Like a Boy But Not a Boy [Review of Like a Boy but Not a Boy: Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood Outside the Gender Binary by andrea bennett (2020)]. Foreword Reviews.
• —. (2020, Aug. 18).  Civil Rights Hero JoAnne Bland: “This Time, We’re Going to Go All the Way”. Ms.
• —. (2020, Spring-Autumn). S. Ware, Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (2019) [review]. Canadian Journal of History 55(1-2). 153-155.
• —. (2020, July 11). Zerlina Maxwell on Her New Book, Identity Politics and the 2020 Election. Ms.
• —. (2020, May 20). The Ms. Q&A: Madame Gandhi on Creativity and Feminism—During COVID and Beyond. Ms.
• —. (2019. Dec. 12). Statutory rape is rape. And we’ve ignored it for long enough. Pulp Magazine.
• —. (2019, Nov. 18). The Ms. Q&A: The Black, Feminist Subtext of Melanie S. Hatter’s Award-Winning Novel “Malawi’s Sisters”. Ms.
• —. (2019, Fall). From Classic to Current: Inspiring Essays on Feminism [Review of The Future is Feminist: Radical, Funny, and Inspiring Writing by Women, edited by M. Farrugia (2019)]. Resources for Gender and Women’s Studies: A Feminist Review 40(4), 20.
• Strand, K.J. & Britz, J.J. (2018). The Evolving Role of Public Libraries in South Africa in Addressing Information Poverty: A Historical Context. Library Management, 39(6/7).
• Strand, K.J. (2017). The Role of Libraries in the Eradication of Information Poverty and Empowerment of Women. In C. Mnubi-Mchombu and T.V. Warikandwa (Eds.), Women’s Rights and the Role of Women in Poverty Eradication: A Contemporary Namibian Perspective (pages 122-130). Windhoek, Namibia: University of Namibia Human Rights & Documentation Centre, Faculty of Law.
• —. (2016). An exploration into the role of public libraries in the alleviation of information inequality and poverty in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
• Strand, Karla J. (2015). K. Eichorn, The Archival Turn in Feminism: Outrage in Order [review]. Journal of American History 102, 957-958.

Media Coverage

Social Media

@karlajstrand

Country Focus

Wisconsin, United States, South Africa

Expertise by Geography

North America, United States

Expertise by Chronology

19th century, 20th century

Expertise by Topic

Colonialism, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Libraries & Archives, Local & Regional, Race, Sexuality, Women