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Email: katherinekirkeminde@usf.edu

As a child in the Mississippi River Delta, Katherine grew up emersed in a culture of rich and elaborate storytelling and folklore. Family gatherings and neighborly visits were often punctuated with fanciful, winding narratives about distant relatives or tales of caution about friends of friends. When she was young, this habitual practice of storytelling nurtured a sense of belonging and connection to her community, which she still cherishes to this day. 

    Katherine holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of South Florida, and as an Anthropologist, she seeks to honor these same traditions of tall-taletelling, folk narratives, and other modes of storytelling as the brilliant, innovative performances that they are. This is reflected in her where she, where she highlights them as necessary tools for communities in conflict or distress to reclaim their sense of agency over their own, sometimes difficult histories, and pathways to preserving a sense of cultural vitality in the face of adversity.  

    In this same spirit, Katherine has centered her research around the ways in which marginalized and vulnerable communities, particularly those navigating the cultural complexities of the Deep South, can leverage innovative strategies, like storytelling, to define their own histories and to persist on their own terms. Her current research projects include: " A Black Dog in the Bottomlands: Folk Tales as Cultural Negotiation in Carroll County", "Cemetery Reclamation & Community Empowerment in Memphis, TN", and "Moonshining, Liquor Running and other Extra-Legal Economies as Historical Models of Economic Survival in the Rural South".  

    Katherine also seeks to honor narratives outside of her research through her work with the St. Petersburg Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center. A former TRHT Racial Justice Fellow, Katherine now serves as the organization's Administrator and assists the Center in supporting future generations of community justice advocates as an alumni consultant to the Curriculum Committee. She also directly engages with narratives as vehicles of transformation through her work as a facilitator for Community Healing Conversations, which provide a safe and structured environment for diverse groups to engage in guided dialogue with the purpose of building greater inter-personal understanding and empathy. 

    As an undergraduate student, Katherine had the honor of interning with Dr. Anna Dixon as an investigator intern, where she honed her skills in archival research and data management. As a graduate researcher, Katherine has used her skills in data management and coalition building working with Dr. Antoinette Jackson and the Black Cemetery Network to help reclaim an invisible cemetery in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and working with Dr. Kathryn Weedman-Arthur in her H.E.A.L lab building a comprehensive database for her work with the Gamo-speaking people of Ethiopia. Katherine is also the student liaison and Event Coordinator of the Suncoast Storytelling Festival at USFSP, where she works to bring her love of a good story to the USF community through entertainment and educational workshops.

    For Katherine, the true heart of Anthropology lies in the discipline's ability to transform narratives into meaningful insights that drive positive change and illuminate the human condition. To her, every academic pursuit serves to answer what she feels is Anthropology's most important prompt: "Tell me a story". Looking forward, she is excited to carry this passion for human narratives with her into her work in the University of South Florida's graduate program in Applied Anthropology.