The Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
Visiting Scholar, Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies
Cat Dawson’s research investigates the social construction of subjectivity through queer, feminist, and anti-racist representational strategies in postmodern and contemporary American culture. Their current book, Monumental Futures, investigates the conditions of memorialization in and beyond colonial representational economies by indexing responses by Black, Indigenous, and queer artists to the afterlives and effects of settler colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. A subsequent book, Queer Photography and its Metaphors, queries the emergence of queer and trans representational strategies, and investigates the profound impact those strategies have had both within and beyond the medium of photography. They have taught courses on the Study of Women and Gender and the History of Art at Smith College and the University at Buffalo, and have peer-reviewed articles forthcoming in Art and the Public Sphere Journal (2021) and Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture (2022). They hold a BA in the Study of Women and Gender from Smith College (2008) and a PhD in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo (2018), and are a member of the College Art Association and the National Women’s Studies Association.