My research and scholarship focuses on North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. I have been conducting anthropological research in Haiti and Mexico and in Haitian and Mexican transnational migrant communities over the past several decades on dynamics of migration, religion, culture, agriculture, gender, language, music and performance. Since 2006, I have been researching Latinos’ savings and retirement in collaboration with economists. More recently, I have teamed up with engineers to study Haitians’ practices and attitudes toward home construction, risk and climate change. Throughout my life and career, I have served as an advocate for immigrants, farmworkers, refugees and other vulnerable populations and an expert in legal and administrative cases in their struggles for justice.
Director, Undergraduate Studies, Institute for Latino Studies
Concurrent Faculty: Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures and Anthropology
Affiliated Faculty: Africana Studies and Gender Studies
Fellow: Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Eck Institute for Global Health
Institute for Latino Studies
University of Notre Dame 574-631-8146
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
574-631-8146
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Music, Wesleyan University.
Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Virginia.
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, University of Virginia.
Fellowships and Grants (2008-Present)
Principal Investigator with Joelle Saad-Lessler. Collectivism All Around: informal networks, savings shortfalls, and financial education in the US. National Endowment for Financial Education. 2018.
Co-Investigator. National Science Foundation. Tracy Kijewski-Correa, Co-Investigator and Debra Jevaline, Principal Investigator. The Effects of Religiosity on Homeowner Responses to Natural Hazards: A Case Study in Haiti’s Residential Sector. 2017-2018.
Principal Investigator. The Significance of Gender for Latina/o Savings and Retirement. National Endowment for Financial Education. September 2011.
Summer Research Award. Kellogg Institute for International Studies. University of Notre Dame. 2010.
Understanding and Increasing Mexican Immigrants’ Retirement Savings Security. National Endowment for Financial Education. September 2009.
Awards (2008-Present)
The Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Notre Dame. May 2015.
Open Course Ware Consortium Award for Open Course Ware Excellence. For Creole Language and Culture. April 2012.
Robert F. Heizer Prize. Awarded by American Society for Ethnohistory for Best Journal Article in the Field of Ethnohistory. October 2009.
Publications
Books
Migration and Vodou (with music CD). New World Diasporas Series, University of Florida Press. 2018, Second Edition. 2005, First Edition.
Monographs
The Significance of Gender for Latino Savings and Retirement. With Wei Sun, Sung Chang-Chun and Justin Sena. University of Notre Dame. Institute for Latino Studies.
Confianza, Savings and Retirement: A Study of Mexicans Immigrants in Chicago.
Karen Richman, Teresa Ghilarducci, Roger Knight, Erin Jelm and Joelle Saad-Lessler. Institute for Latino Studies. 2012.
Book Chapters (Since 2008)
Where Have All the Ounsi Gone? Migration, Rites of Passage and Monetization in Vodou. In Vodou/Vodú. Timothy Landry, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier, eds. Indiana University Press. Forthcoming.
Vodou/Voodoo. Religions of the World. Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. 2018.
Mortuary Rites and Social Dramas in Léogâne, Haiti. In Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death and Mortuary Rituals in the Caribbean. Maarit Forde and Yanique Hume, eds. Duke University Press. 2018.
Vodou/Voodoo. International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. 2017.
Who Owns Haitian Religion? In Who Owns Haiti? Infractions and Assertions of Sovereignty, Robert Maguire and Scott Freeman, eds. University Press of Florida. 2016.
Possession and Attachment: Notes on Moral Ritual Communication among Haitian Descent Groups. In Spirited Things: The Work of “Possession” in Afro-Atlantic Religions (s). Paul C. Johnson, ed. pp. 207-223. University of Chicago Press. 2014.
Work and Retirement. With Joelle Saad-Lessler and Teresa Ghilarducci. In Handbook of Minority Aging. Keith Whitfield and Tamara Baker, eds. Pp. 507-525. Springer Publishing Company. 2013.
Religion at the Epicenter: Agency and Affiliation in Léogâne after the Earthquake. In The Idea of Haiti: Rethinking Crisis and Development. Millery Polyne, ed. University of Minnesota Press. 2013.
The Vodou State and the Protestant Nation: Haiti in the Long Twentieth Century, In Obeah and Other Powers: The Politics of Caribbean Religion and Healing, Maarit Forde and Diana Paton, eds., pp. 268-279. Duke University Press. 2012.
Catholic, Vodou, and Protestant–Being Haitian, Becoming American. With Elizabeth McAlister. In Immigration and Religion in America: Comparative and Historical Perspectives, Richard Alba, Josh DeWind and Albert Raboteau, eds., pp. 319-352. New York: New York University Press. 2008.
“Call us Vote People”: Citizenship, Migration and Transnational Politics in Haitian and Mexican Locations. Citizenship, Political Engagement and Belonging: Immigrants in Europe and the United States. Deborah Reed-Danahay and Caroline Brettell, eds., pp. 262-295. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2008.
Peasants, Migrants and the Discovery of the Authentic Africa. In Africas of the Americas: Beyond the Search for Origins in the Study of Afro-Atlantic Religions, Stephan Palmié, ed., pp. 293-322. Leiden: Brill. 2008.
Refereed Journal Articles (Since 2008)
The Impact of Collectivism on Savings Behavior: A Case Study of Mexican-Americans and non-Mexican Latinos. With Joelle Saad-Lessler. Review of Economics of the Household. 2014.
Male Migration, Female Perdition: Narratives of Economic and Reproductive Impotence in a Haitian Transnational Community. Anthropologica 54(2):189-198. 2012.
Introduction. Terry Rey and Karen Richman. Special Volume on Haitian Religion. Studies in Religion 41(1):1-3. 2012.
Religion at the Epicenter: Religious Agency and Affiliation in Léogâne After the Earthquake. Studies in Religion 41(1). 2012.
The Somatics of Syncretism: Tying Body and Soul in Haitian Religion. Terry Rey and Karen Richman. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 39 (3):379-403. 2010.
Run from the Earthquake, Fall into the Abyss: A Léogâne Paradox. Social Tex/Periscope: Ayiti Kraze?Haii in Fragments. February 2010. http://www.socialtextjournal.org/periscope/ayiti-kraze-haiti-in-fragments/
Congregating by Cassette. Karen Richman and Terry Rey. International Journal of Cultural Studies 12(1):53-70. 2009.
Latinos’ Retirement Income Security. Teresa Ghilarducci and Karen Richman. Business Journal of Hispanic Research 2(2):50-63. 2008.
La Tercera Edad: A Focus Group Study on the Effects of Retirement on Latino Families. Karen Richman and Roger Knight. Business Journal of Hispanic Research 2(1):30-61. 2008.
A More Powerful Sorcerer: Conversion and Capital in the Haitian Diaspora. New West Indian Guide 81 (1-2):1-43. 2008.
Are They Mad? Nation and Narration in Tous les hommes sont fous. Marlene Daut and KarenRichman. Small Axe 26: 133-148. 2008.
Innocent Imitations? Mimesis and Alterity in Haitian Vodou Art. Ethnohistory 55(2): 203-228. 2008.
Editorship
Co-Editor, with Terry Rey, Special Volume on Haitian Religion, Studies in Religion. 41(1). 2012.
First Career Publication
From Peasant to Migratory Farmworker: Haitian Migrants in U.S. Agriculture, Center for Latin American Studies, Occasional Paper No. 3: Haitian Migration and the Haitian Economy, University of Florida, Gainesville, 1984.
Reports
Bon Sèl Dayiti: Perceptions and Consumption of Salt in Léogâne and Carrefour.
Karen Richman and Pierre D’Haïti. (With Assistance from Noelle Hunter, Luisa Krug and Jeff Antoine Pavilus and Curtis Tripp). Report Submitted to the Haiti Program, University of Notre Dame, July 2012.
External Conferences, Invited Lectures and Papers (Last Five Years)
A Safe House: An Interdisciplinary Tèt Ansanm. Roundtable Presentation. 30th Annual Conference of the Haitian Studies Association. November, 2018. Port-au-Prince.
The Myth of Excessive Haitian Population and the Reality of Population Decline. Paper Presented at the 30th Annual Conference of the Haitian Studies Association. November, 2018. Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The Stone in the Water Doesn’t Know the Pain of the Rock in the Sun: The Earthquake, the Gold Rush and the Pornography of Suffering. Invited Panel on Disaster Economics in the Caribbean. Paper Presented to the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. November, 2018. San Jose.
Immigrants, Social Investments and Social Capital: A Mexican Immigration Case Study St. Vincent College. October, 2018. Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
Where Have All the Ounsi Gone? Ritual, Migration and Monetization in Vodou. Karen E. Richman. Paper presented to the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. November, 2017. Washington, D.C.
Chair Presentation of Victor Turner Writing Prize. Society for Humanistic Anthropology. Presentation at 116th American Anthropological Association Conference. November, 2017. Washington, D.C.
The Significance of Gender for Latino Retirement, Lecture presented to the Sixth Annual Retirement Empowerment Summit, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, October, 2016. Washington, D.C.
Keys to Closing the Wealth Gap. Presentation at the 10th Annual Financial Literacy Leadership Conference, Society for Financial Education and Professional Development. Washington, D.C., October 2017.
Individualism, Collectivism and Democracy. Paper presentation to the Workshop on Illiberal Democracy and Human Rights. Georgia State University. May, 2017. Atlanta.
From Kongo to Kanntè: Migrations between Leogane and Dominikani. Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association. Port-au-Prince. June, 2016.
Se yon don li kite pou nou: Karen Brown’s Teaching Gifts. Presentation to Roundtable: Karen McCarthy Brown’s Legacy: Vodou and Global Movements. Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association. Port-au-Prince. June, 2016.
Chair, Urban and Rural Labor Migration and Governance on Hispañiola. Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association. Port-au-Prince. June, 2016.
Chair Presentation of Victor Turner Writing Prize. Society for Humanistic Anthropology. Presentation at 115th American Anthropological Association Conference. November, 2016.
Panel co-organizer and co-chair. Afro-Atlantic Epistemologies and the Social Creation of Knowledge. 114th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Denver, November, 2015.
Looking for Strange and Finding Very Strange in Haitian Vodou. With Jesus Macarena-Avila. Paper Presented to the Panel, Afro-Atlantic Epistemologies and the Social Creation of Knowledge. 114th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Denver, November, 2015.
How Culture, Pension Policy and The Financial System Affect Latinos’ Savings for Retirement. Paper presented to the Annual Meeting of the Society for Financial Education and Professional Development. Washington, D.C., October 2015.
Migration and Vodou. Lecture presented to the Department of Anthropology. Central Connecticut State College. New Britain, October 2015.
Testimony (with Ted Beck) to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans. Washington, D.C., August 2015.
German-Haitian Kinship. Lecture presented to DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, Chicago. June 2015.
Discussant. Comiendo juntos: comida, materialidad y sociabilidad en el Caribe rural. Latin American Studies Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico. May 2015.
Haitians Beyond the Coasts: Immigration, Transnationalism, and Community. Paper Presented to the Symposium Beyond Coasts: Haiti in the Midwest. Northwestern University. Evanston, Illinois. April 2015.
Vodou and Migration. The Kathleen O’Brien Wicker Endowment Invited Lecture. Scripps College. Claremont, California. March 2015.
Chair, Development in the Islands Panel, Envision, Enact, Evaluate: Sustaining Momentum in Development. 7th Annual Human Development Conference. University of Notre Dame. February 2015.
Chair, Haitian Transnational Migration in Old and New Spaces: Student-Faculty Collaborative Research in Guadeloupe, Ecuador, Boston and Haiti. 26th Annual Meeting of the Haitian Studies Association. University of Notre Dame. November 2014.
To Live in Haiti You Have to Search for Life Outside” Producing Migrants, Consuming Remittances in Léogane. Paper presented to the Panel, Haitian Transnational Migration in Old and New Spaces: Student-Faculty Collaborative Research in Guadeloupe, Ecuador, Boston and Haiti. 26th Annual Meeting of the Haitian Studies Association. University of Notre Dame. November 2014.
Immigrants, Social Investments, and Social Capital: A Mexican Immigrant Case Study. Invited Lecture at Regis University. Denver. October 2014.
The Otherness Triangle: Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the International Community Panel Chair and Presenter, Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, May 2014.
Religious Reproduction and Religious Change after the Earthquake. Paper Presented to the Symposium: Focus on Haiti. George Washington University. “Who ‘Owns’ Haiti: Sovereignty in a Fragile State, May 2014.
The Otherness Triangle: Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the International Community Panel Chair and Presenter, Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, May 2014.
Religious Reproduction and Religious Change after the Earthquake. Paper Presented to the Symposium: Focus on Haiti. George Washington University. “Who ‘Owns’ Haiti: Sovereignty in a Fragile State, May 2014.
For Whom the Firefly Glows: Time, Piece Rates and the Sweat Shops of the Fields in the Modern United States. Paper Presented to the Panel, Republics Of Labor: Contemporary Guestworkers As Future Publics. 112th Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November 2013.
Roundtable in Honor of Patricia Pessar. Participant. 112th Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November 2013.
“To Live in Haiti You Have to….” Paper Presentation. Panel on Promoting Economic and Minority Rights in Hispaniola. Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference. Washington, D.C. May, 2013.
Mexican Immigrants’ Culture, Savings and Retirement. Roundtable on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Retirement Readiness at the Annual Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making, Boulder, May 2013.
University of Notre Dame Service, Positions and Memberships (Since 2008)
Committee on Joint Major in Spanish and Latino Studies (2015-Present)
Chair, Kellogg Institute Working Group on Haiti (Fall 2015)
Director, Cross-Cultural Leadership Program (2015-present)
Program Chair, Annual Meeting of the Haitian Studies Association, Notre Dame (2014)
Advisory Council, Latin American Studies Program (2010-present)
Co-Organizer, Kellogg Institute Working Group on Migrants’ Political Transnationalism and Civic Engagement (2007-2013)
Advisor to student groups: Latino Honors Society, Student Coalition for Immigrant Advocacy and Community Alliance to Serve Hispanics
Co-Organizer and Chair, Working Group on Migrants’ Transnationalism, Kellogg Institute
(2007-2013)
Recent Courses Taught
Mexican Immigration: A South Bend Case Study
Caribbean Diasporas
Creole Migrations
The Common Good Initiative in Haiti (with Kevin Sandberg)
Cross-Cultural Leadership Program, Chicago
Migration, Documented
Caribbean Migrations: A Literary Excursion (with Cyraina Johnson-Roullier)
Creole Language and Culture Levels I-IV
Thesis Courses
Directed Readings
Editor: Student Research Brief Series in Latino Studies
2008-Present
Public/Press/Media Appearances
U.S. Department of Labor, WGN, Univisíon, Crain’s Chicago Business, USA Today, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Latino USA (NPR)
Professional Society Board Positions
Chair, Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing Committee, Society for Humanistic Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, 2016 and 2017
Co-Chair, Haiti-Dominican Republic Section of Latin American Studies Association, 2016-Present
Chair, Hosting Committee, 26Th Annual Meeting of the Haitian Studies Association, at University of Notre Dame, November 2014.
Society for the Anthropology of Religion, American Anthropological Association (Program Chair/Section Editor and Board Member, 2007-2011)
Financial Services Committee, The Resurrection Project, 2010-Present
Haitian Studies Association (Steering Committee 1992-2001)
Society for Humanistic Anthropology (Secretary and Newsletter Editor 1996-1998).