# Karen Jaime

**Source**: https://americanstudies.cornell.edu/karen-jaime
**Parent**: https://americanstudies.cornell.edu/faculty-books

## Associate Professor

### Overview

Karen Jaime (B.A., Cornell University; Ph.D.; New York University) is Associate Professor of Performing and Media Arts and Latina/o Studies. The recipient of a Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Fellowship for 2023-2024, Karen is a former Mellon/HIDVL Scholar in Residence at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at NYU, a former Institute for Citizens & Scholars Career Enhancement Junior Faculty Fellow (\*formerly the Woodrow Wilson Career), a former Rockefeller Foundation Research Fellow and Chancellor’s Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karen’s award-winning monograph, *The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida* (NYU Press, 2021) argues for a reexamination of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as a historically queer space, both in terms of sexualities and performance practices. Her critical writing has been published, or is forthcoming, in *Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, e-Misférica, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, ASAP/J, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Performance Matters* and in *QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking*. Karen is also an accomplished spoken word/performance artist who served as the host/curator of the Friday Night Poetry Slam at the world-renowned Nuyorican Poets Cafe (2003-2005). She also co-edited an anthology celebrating the life and legacy of Nuyorican Poets Cafe co-founder, Miguel Algarín entitled *Memorias de Miguel: The Hard Work of Love*. Her poetry is included in *The Best of Panic! En Vivo From the East Village, Flicker and Spark: A Queer Anthology of Spoken Word and Poetry*, in a special issue of *Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary and Art Journal*, “Out Latina Lesbians,” and in the anthology *Latinas: Struggles and Protest in 21st Century USA*.

### Research Focus

Latina/o/x studies, performance studies, queer studies, feminist, gender, & sexuality studies, American studies, media studies, Latina/o/x diasporas & expressive cultures, popular culture/spoken word & slam poetry, visual art & criticism, minoritarian aesthetics, queer nightlife cultures & communities.

### Awards and Honors

**2025** Poetry Fellow, Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA). 

**2023-2024** Scholar-in-Residence Fellowship, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.

**2023** Faculty Champion Award—Junior Faculty, Graduate School Office of Inclusion & Student Engagement and the Graduate and Professional Student Diversity Council, Cornell University.

**2022** The Victor Villaseñor Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book Award (English) at the International Latino Book Awards,  for *The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida.*

**2022** Honorable Mention, Best LGBTQ+ Themed Book at the International Latino Book  Awards for *The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida.*

**2022** Mellon/HIDVL Scholar in Residence, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics**,** New York University, New York, NY. 

**2020** “Nightlife” Course selected #3 on the list of 17 of the most innovative courses of the 2019-2020 academic year by *Campuswire*. 

**2019** Career Enhancement Junior Faculty Fellow, Institute for Citizens & Scholars (\*formerly the Woodrow Wilson Foundation). 

**2018** Visiting Scholar**,** Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics**,**New York University, New York, NY. 

**2017** “Spoken Word, Hip-Hop Theatre, and the Politics of Performance” course selected as “Best of Cornell” for 2017 during the Trustee-Council Annual Meeting (TCAM). 

### Publications

**Book:**

*The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida*(NYU Press, June 2021).

**Co-Edited Collection:**

"Introduction" and "Poem for Miguel: The Living Room." *Memorias de Miguel: The Hard Work of Love*. Co-Editors: Lois Elaine Griffith, Karen Jaime, and Joseph Cáceres. Hemi Press: Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, New York University, New York, NY, 2022). <https://memorias-de-miguel.hemispheric.org>

**Articles:**

“’It Ain’t Easy Being Green:’ Race and Time in Stormé DeLarverie’s Butch Swagger and Presence.” *QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking*, “Special Issue: The Queer 1990s.” Guest Editors: David K. Seitz and Eve Oishi, Volume 10, Number 3, Fall 2023: 256-277. <https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/26/article/942039>

“‘I’m A Stripper Ho’: The Sonics of Cardi B’s Ratchet, Diasporic Feminism.” *Performance Matters*, “Special Issue: Sound Acts, Part 2: Receiving and Reflecting Vibration.” Guest Editors: Patricia Herrera, Caitlin Marshall, and Marci McMahon, Vol. 8, No. 1 (May 2022): 83-96.

**“**Talking about Joy, Legacies, and Afro futurity: An Interview with Lola Flash.” *ASAP/J*, 8 March 2021, [http://asapjournal.com/talking-about-joy-legacies-and-afrofuturity-an-interview-with-lola-flash/.](http://asapjournal.com/talking-about-joy-legacies-and-afrofuturity-an-interview-with-lola-flash/)

“‘Chasing Rainbows:’ Black Cracker and Queer, Trans Afrofuturity.” *TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly*, “Special Issue: The Issue of Blackness.” Guest editors: Treva C. Ellison, Kai M. Green, Matt Richardson, and C. Riley Snorton, Vol. 4, No. 2, (May 2017): 208- 218.

"'Da' Pa' Lo' Do:' Rita Indiana's Queer, Racialized Dominicaness." *Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism*, 19, no. 2 (July 2015): 85-93.

**Book Chapters:**

“Miguel Piñero.” *50 Key Figures in Queer U.S. Theatre*, Eds. Jimmy Noriega and Jordan Schildcrout. (Routledge, September 1, 2022): 193-197. 

“‘Dance With Me in the Disco Heat’: Nowhere Bar’s Temporal Shifts.”*Queer Nightlife*,Eds. Kemi Adeyemi, Kareem Khubchandani, and Ramón Rivera-Servera.(University of Michigan Press, 2021): 76-83. 

"De La Vega: Challenging Spaces and Minds.” *Discovering New York Artist De La Vega*, Ed. Rachel Goldberg. Miami: BookSurge Publishing, 2008, pgs. 68-75. 

**Poetry:**

“A Political Statement.” *Latinas: Protests and Struggles in the 21st Century USA*, Ed. Iris Morales. Red Sugarcane Press.

“Dominicaness Defined,” and “Changing Stations.” *Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Anthology of Queer Spoken Word and Poetry*, Eds. Regie Cabico and Brittany Fonte. Lowbrow Press, March 2013: 232-235. 

“Smells Like Home.” *The Best of Panic: En Vivo from the East Village*,  Ed. Charlie Vázquez. FireKing Press, December 2010: 142-147.

"A Political Statement." *Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary and Art Journal*, "Out Latina Lesbians," 97, Summer 2015: 117-119. Special Issue Eds. Nivea Castro and Geny Cabral.

## In the news

- [Performance and conference honor Viramontes](/news/performance-and-conference-honor-viramontes)
- [New series connects students, community with artists and scholars](/news/new-series-connects-students-community-artists-and-scholars-0)
- [Award-winning poet, actor, activist to visit Nov. 2](/news/award-winning-poet-actor-activist-visit-nov-2)

## Courses - Spring 2026

- [AMST 4705 : Nightlife](https://classes.cornell.edu/browse/roster/SP26/class/AMST/4705)