KRISTIN DENISE ROWE ("KRIS"), Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and a scholar of Black hair and beauty culture, body politics, feminism(s), and popular culture. Her research and teaching interests include body politics, hair and beauty culture, race and popular culture, cultural studies, social media/new media, Black and women of color feminism(s), and sexuality.
Kris's forthcoming book, Embodying Natural: Black Hair and Visual Media in the 21st Century, is under contract with the University of North Carolina Press. The book offers new scholarly analysis of narratives and depictions of Black women's natural hair in twenty-first-century art, social media, and popular culture, and was supported by a Career Enhancement Fellowship funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (2022–2023). To learn more about her scholarship, visit “Research” page.
She is the recipient of the Inaugural Article of the Year Award from Women and Language, and her work appears in venues including Critical Studies in Fashion & Beauty, Open Cultural Studies journal, Journal of American Culture, Women and Language journal, and Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.
Kris has also written for outlets such as CRWN magazine, The Body is Not an Apology, CurlyNikki, and The Research Collective for Decolonizing Fashion. To view these essays, visit the “Public Writing” page. She has also been invited to speak at venues including the Los Angeles County Library and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
She has been quoted in publications such as The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Refinery 29, Travel Noire, “The Lily” by The Washington Post, “Unbothered” by Refinery 29, Byrdie, and The Orange County Register. She was also featured in episodes 1 and 3 of the tripartite docu-series The Black Beauty Effect produced by FaceForward Productions and now streaming on Netflix.
Kris is from Newark, Delaware. Today, she lives in Inglewood, California. She likes watching TV, art exhibitions, coffee, thrift shopping, craft beer, her house plants, and dance/fitness classes.
EDUCATION
2019, Ph.D., African American and African Studies, Michigan State University (Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies) - East Lansing, MI.
2015, M.A., African American and African Studies, Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI.
2013, B.A., English & Black American Studies (Dual Major, with Distinction), University of Delaware - Newark, DE.
COURSES AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON
Department of American Studies
AMST 300: Introduction to American Popular Culture
AMST 377: Prejudice in American Culture
AMST 401T: Proseminar in American Studies - “The Body in American Culture”
AMST 401T: Proseminar in American Studies - “Drugs in American Culture”
AMST 412: Women, Race, and Ethnicity in American Culture
AMST 447: Race and American Popular Culture
Department of African American Studies
AFAM 356: African American Music Appreciation
To get in touch with her with questions or about collaborating, please use the contact form.