Position Title
Continuing Lecturer
Research Areas:
Teaching Areas:
Biography:
Karma Waltonen has been teaching at UC Davis since 2000. The editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Margaret Atwood Studies, Dr. Karma (as her students call her) has a wide variety of interests, most of which are incredibly nerdy/geeky. For example, she has two books on The Simpsons, both co-authored with Denise Du Vernay. Recently, she has published on time travel in Star Trek and on the ethics of religious cults in Doctor Who and on asexuality in Sherlock and on postmodernism in The X-Files. She and Melissa Bender (also in the UWP) co-edited a collection on innovative writing assignments, and their textbook on evaluating and ethically using sources came out in 2020. Service to the university includes working extensively with the Campus Book Project. She also speaks at various ComicCons and at international conferences. Her cats loved that she taught from home during Covid, but they were terrible TAs.
Dr. Karma spends a month in Oxford each summer: you could join her, by taking her film class there: Oxford on Film (https://globallearning.ucdavis.edu/pathways/academics/studyabroad/sa/uk_...).
Education:
PhD, UC Davis (Literature)
MA, Florida State (Literature)
BA, Florida State (Theatre and English)
Awards:
2015 Academic Federation Excellence in Teaching, UC Davis
2015 Best Edited Collection, for Margaret Atwood's Apocalypses, awarded by The Margaret Atwood Society
Publications:
Books
Who’s Your Source? A Writer’s Guide to Effectively Evaluating and Ethically Using Resources (co-authored with Melissa Bender). Broadview Press, 2020.
The Simpsons in the Classroom: Embiggening the Learning Experience with the Wisdom of Springfield (co-authored with Denise Du Vernay). McFarland, 2010.
Edited Collections
The Simpsons’ Beloved Springfield: Essays on the TV Series and Town that are a Part of Us All (co-authored with Denise Du Vernay). McFarland, 2019.
Writing Assignments in Context (co-authored with Melissa Bender). McFarland, 2016.
Margaret Atwood’s Apocalypses. Cambridge, 2015.
Editor in Chief, peer-reviewed journals
Margaret Atwood Studies, 2012-current
Refereed Journal Articles
“Loving the Other in Science Fiction by Women.” MOSF Journal of Science Fiction 1.1 (2016), <http://publish.lib.umd.edu/scifi/article/view/250>.
‘“Atwood’s view . . . is crazy, but very possible’: Students Reading Oryx and Crake.” Margaret Atwood Studies 5.2 (2011): 16-35.
“Saint Joan: From Witch to New Woman,” Shaw, The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies 24: Dionysian Shaw. Ed. Michel W. Pharand. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004. 186-203.
Book Chapters
“What We All Came Here to See: Sex.” The Simpsons’ Beloved Springfield: Essays on the TV Series and Town that Are a Part of Us All.” Eds. Karma Waltonen and Denise Du Vernay. McFarland, 2019. 244-260.
“My First Frontier: A Celebration of Fifty Years of Star Trek.” Time Lords & Tribbles, Winchesters and Muggles: The DePaul Pop Culture Conference. Eds. Paul Booth and Isabella Menichiello. DePaul, 2017. 252-254.
“Modernist Hero in a Postmodern Age.” The X-Files and Philosophy. Ed. Robert Arp. Open Court, 2016. 313-320.
“The Partner Project: Advanced Argument.” Twenty Writing Assignments in Context. Ed. Melissa Bender and Karma Waltonen. McFarland, 2015. 226-243.
“Sherlocked: Homosociality and (A)Sexuality.” Gender and the Modern Sherlock Holmes. Ed. Nadine Farghaly. McFarland, 2015. 192-207.
“Religion in Doctor Who: Cult Ethics.” Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who. Eds. Andrew Crome and James McGrath. Darton, Longman and Todd, 2013. 145-160.
“To Boldly Go When No One Has Gone Before (or After)—Trek’s Timelines.” Star Trek and History. Ed. Nancy Reagin. Wiley, 2013. 158-175.
“Dark Comedies and Dark Ladies: The New Femme Fatale.” Femme Fatalities: Representations of Strong Women in the Media. Ed. Rikke Schubart & Anne Gjelsvik. Nordicom, 2004. 127-144.
‘“Bodies conjured up for them by words’: Structure Through Myth in Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin.” Identity and Alterity in Canadian Literature. Risoprint, 2003. 255-264.
Encyclopedia Entries
“Terrence McNally.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, Supplement XIII. Ed. Jay Parini. Scribner’s, 2003. 195-212.
“Jamaica Kincaid.” World Writers in English, Volume I. Ed. Jay Parini. Scribner’s, 2004. 195-212.
“Hanif Kureishi.” World Writers in English, Volume I. Ed. Jay Parini. Scribner’s, 2004. 231-48.
Book Reviews
Review of Priscilla L. Walton’s Our Cannibals, Ourselves in The American Review of Canadian Studies 36 (Dec 2006).
Other Publications (selected)
“She Will Arrive.” She’s Shameless: Women Write About Growing Up, Rocking Out and Fighting Back. Ed. Stacey May Fowles and Megan Griffith-Greene. Toronto: Pages Books, 2009. 54-55.
“Four Simpsons Controversies That Didn’t End in Lawsuits.” Mental Floss 18 May 2009. <http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25661>.
“Multicultural Children’s Literature: A Selected Bibliography.” Multicultural Review 17.2 (2008): 90-91.
Blog: dr-karma.com
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