Dr Karen Cuthbert
- Lecturer (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088Biography
As a person from a working-class background, the first in my family to go to university, and the beneficiary of a Widening Access and Participation programme, I always have a little moment of disbelief when I am asked to write my university staff profile...
I joined the University as a Lecturer in Sociology in September 2021. This was a bit of a homecoming, as Sociology at Glasgow was the place where my sociological imagination was first nurtured, having completed my undergraduate, MRes and PhD all in the department. My PhD explored how 'nonsexualities' (asexualities, celibacies and sexual abstinence) are gendered - both in terms of how they are discursively constructed, and how they are experienced and ‘lived’ - as well as thinking more broadly through the theoretical and empirical relationship between gender and sexuality. I also worked for many years as a graduate teaching assistant across the School of Social and Political Sciences.
Prior to joining the University again as a Lecturer, I held a variety of posts, including:
- A researcher on the Making Space for Queer Religious Youth project, based in Education at the University of Strathclyde
- A researcher on the Intimate Migrations: Lesbian, gay and bisexual migrants in Scotland project at the University of Glasgow
- A Research Fellow on the Living Gender in Diverse Times: Young People's Understandings and Practices of Gender in the Contemporary UK project at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. I also lectured and supervised whilst in this role.
I also sit on the editorial board of The Sociological Review.
I work broadly and primarily within the sociology of gender and sexualities, but also have expertise and experience within youth studies, disability studies, and the sociology of religion. I'm also a massive methods nerd, and love talking, thinking and writing about both the practical and philosophical elements of methodology.
Increasingly I'm beginning to teach and research on autism and neurodiversity. I'm an autistic person myself and believe that autism research should be guided (if not led) by autistic persons themselves, as a matter of epistemological and ethical justice. I'm currently developing some research ideas in this area.
I approach my work - both pedagogy and research - as an intersectional socialist-feminist, with a keen awareness of power and inequalities, and a desire for and commitment to profound societal transformation (including within the academy).
Research interests
My research interests include but are not limited to:
- Nonsexualities (asexualities, celibacies, sexual abstinence)
- Sexual agency, desire and subjectivities more broadly
- Gender (persisting inequalities under heteropatriarchy but also potentially new shifting gendered terrains)
- Qualitative methodologies (particularly creative methods) and epistemological questions
- Feminisms and feminist theory
- Autism and neurodiversity (and disability more generally)
Research groups
Supervision
I currently supervise three PhDs.
- Natalie Moffat on menstruation from a new materialist perspective (ESRC funded)
- Wren Alvarado Reinoso on autism and relational bonds (College of Social Sciences funded)
- Carla Matthews on ukulele playing communities, and the role of gender and sexualities
I have very limited capacity for PhD supervision, but I would be really interested in hearing from you if you want to work on non-sexualities (asexuality/celibacy) or autism
Teaching
I teach on a number of modules across our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Professional activities & recognition
Editorial boards
- 2019 - -: The Sociological Review
Professional & learned societies
- 2013 - -: Member, British Sociological Association