Welcome to my AMST 603 class homepage! My name is Kirsten Crase, and I am a Ph.D. student in American Studies at the University of Maryland. My intellectual interests are broadly centered around the concept of sense of place, of how people make meaning out of their geographical location in relation to other aspects of their cultural identity(ies). What is "the power of place?" What is the role of a place-based identity in an increasingly mobile and transnational world? I explore these questions by means of cultural landscape studies and ethnography. I am also interested in the relationship between environmental/ecological values and sense of place, and in international approaches to American Studies as a means of exploring and unpacking the notion of an "American" sense(s) of place. Some of my recent projects include an examination of sense of place as a means of studying cultural landscapes, an ethnographic essay based on how places, both geographical and conceptual, have shaped one woman's life, an exploration of international approaches to American Studies, and an investigation of the social and environmental costs of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.
I earned a B.A. in American Studies and History from St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, where I met some wonderful people, sang in several choirs, and studied abroad in Cuba and Asia (Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, and Vietnam), in addition to taking lots of courses on American culture and history. Following graduation I ventured to the village of Kamikuishiki, Japan, where I taught English for one year as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Following my return to the US I moved to Kentucky, where most of my extended family lives, to learn more about Appalachian culture and about the place that holds so much of my heritage and family history. While there I worked as a research intern at the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center in Lexington. Click here to visit the Appalachian Center's website, and to read about some of the intellectual ideas and practices that have been influential in shaping my interests and my sense of the purpose of the intellectual life. I also spent last summer, while still in Kentucky, working on a small sustainable family farm in Berea, Kentucky. I came away from that experience loving the smell of dirt and fresh tomatoes more than I ever thought possible. Click here to visit the website of the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, and to learn about heirloom tomatoes and beans.
Currently I am nearing completion of my first year of graduate school at the University of Maryland. I also work as a research assistant at the Office of International Education Services, and this summer I will be interning at the Center for a New American Dream.