Karen K. Kosasa received a B.A. in Art from Beloit College in 1972, an M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in 1983, an M.A. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester in 1995, and a Ph.D. from the latter institution in Spring 2002. She previously taught as an adjunct in the art departments at the University of Hawai‘i and the University of Rochester, and as an Assistant Professor of Art at Boise State University. Her teaching and research projects are in visual and material culture with a special focus on issues of representation and critical pedagogy in the fine arts, popular culture, and museums. Her interest in museum studies is inspired by first-hand experience with museums, galleries, and art institutions as a practicing artist and lecturer, and her interest in artists who focus their work on museums as their “content.” Ms. Kosasa is especially interested in the relationship between museums and the peoples represented in their collections, and efforts by museums to critically assess and reimagine their roles and responsibilities in the collection, archiving, and display of cultural artifacts.

Ms. Kosasa is involved in interdisciplinary research and influenced by the work of scholars from diverse fields: anthropology, art history, (post)colonial theory, critical pedagogy, cultural geography, cultural studies, literary criticism, media studies, and museum studies. Her dissertation, “Critical Sights/Sites: Art Pedagogy and Settler Colonialism in Hawai‘i” examines the teaching and learning of art within the context of colonialism in the United States and Hawai‘i. In this project she weaves together discussions on visual representation, colonialism, nationalism, spatial theory, ideology and hegemony, and education, with images produced by the draftsmen on Cook’s 18th century Pacific voyages, Henri Matisse’s artistic sojourns in Morocco in the early 20th century, and contemporary art students and artists in Hawai‘i. Ms. Kosasa’s dissertation also includes an important ethnographic project in which she interviewed students and teachers in Honolulu and examined their often controversial efforts to speak to the limitations of a studio arts curriculum emphasizing Euro-American cultural schema.

Ms. Kosasa’s current research projects include: 1) a study of interpretative texts in local, national, and international museums that acknowledge colonial histories and conflicts, 2) recent photo-based work by Tlingit/Nishaá artist, Larry McNeil, 3) revision of dissertation manuscript, 4) critical pedagogy projects in art museums

Ms. Kosasa published works include: “Critical Conversations: Colonialism, Pedagogy, and Museums Studies,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art (April, 2004); “Review of Crossings 2003: Korea/Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i,” Art AsiaPacific 39 (2004); “Thefts of Space and Culture,” History of Photography 25, no. 3 (Autumn 2001); “Pedagogical Sights/Sites: Producing Colonialism and Practicing Art in the Pacific,” Art Journal 57, no. 3 (Fall 1998); and “Effacing Specific Visions: Viewing ‘Here’ From ‘Elsewhere,’” in Privileging Positions: The Sites of Asian American Studies, eds. Marilyn Alquizola, et al., (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1995).

Ms. Kosasa’s recent public lectures or paper presentations at conferences include: “Sleights of Hand: Pedagogy, Visual Representation and Colonialism in Hawai‘i,” International Cultural Studies Speaker Series, Honolulu, Hawai‘i (2004); “Islands of Difference: Spatial Explorations and Pedagogical Lessons in the Pacific,” College Art Association, Seattle, Washington (2004); “Critical Conversations: Colonialism, Pedagogy, and Museum Studies,” Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, Sydney, Australia (2003); “(Post) Colonial Confusions: Navigating Indigenous/Non-Indigenous Conversations About Cultural Differences in Hawai‘i,” Pacific Arts Association, Christchurch, New Zealand (2003), “Colonial Visions,” Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington (2003), “Museums Studies Graduate Certificate Program,” Hawai‘i Museums Association, Honolulu, Hawai‘i (2003).

Ms. Kosasa, a third-generation Japanese-American, was born and raised in Honolulu. She is a practicing artist exhibiting two bodies of work—personal and collaborative. Since 1989, she has collaborated with Honolulu photographer, Stan Tomita. They are currently working on a long-term project on tourism and education first inspired by a postcard project they created for the CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Ms. Kosasa has been involved in mixed-media installation projects since the mid-eighties. Her recent work attempts to critically reflect on her participation in the production of settler colonialism in the United States, the colonization of Native peoples, and the expropriation of their land; and her most recent one-person exhibition “Colonial Visions,” was shown at Evergreen S