Academics

My research centers Black aesthetics in fashion, form, and language regarding cultural appropriation, examining its unique developments within the social media age (circa 2010-2025). I analyze how non-Black individuals embody Black aesthetics as a means of gaining social capital in the digital landscape. My research explores the following questions: How have Black women’s cultural innovations in fashion, form, and language influenced contemporary trends in the digital age? Additionally, how are these innovations appropriated by non-Black individuals in digital spaces as a means of gaining social capital? My work engages Black Feminism, cultural studies, and performance studies, with a focus on the intersections of desirability and respectability politics, minstrelsy, and internalized racism. I explore how these frameworks intersect with the cultural and historical narratives surrounding Black women's representation, aiming to unpack the ways in which Black women's cultural expressions are destabilized, appropriated, and performed.

My project, tentatively titled “New Age Minstrelsy,” proposes that this embodiment of Black aesthetics surpasses mimicry and mockery. Instead, these emulations reflect a desire to transform one’s sociocultural identity to accumulate social capital. I contextualize these uncertain cultural spectators as the conveyors of the paradigmatic shift toward embodying a monolithic Black aesthetic within the popular imagination. The people who seek to emulate Black aesthetics display an uncertainty of self. When they attempt to adopt the perceived unidimensional traits of Blackness, their ignorance betrays their uncertainty in both themselves and the culture. Through cultural appropriation, non-Black people utilize multifaceted combinations of Black aesthetics to portray an embodied false persona they deem as cooler or more exotic.

Regarding the image of the Black woman, I also contextualize its bastardization and misrepresentation. Using controlling images and historical misconceptions, I compare the construction of Black womanhood to contemporary perceptions, tracing their origins and evolution. I do not claim this is an entirely novel phenomenon, but rather build upon previous scholars' analyses of the fascination with Blackness and its associated social benefits. For example, bell hooks explores this in Black Looks, Race and Representation, Lauren Michele Jackson in White Negroes: When Cornrows Were In Vogue… and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation, and Jillian Hernandez in Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment. These works offer valuable insights into how Black cultural aesthetics have been co-opted for social gain, a dynamic I aim to explore specifically in the context of the social media age.

With my research, I hope to further existing discourse on how Black women are perceived as more attitudinal, provocative, and rebellious. Black stereotypes invoke the controlling images that continually portray Black women as oversexualized, inappropriate, audacious and bold. On Black bodies, these prescriptive traits are perceived as undesirable and further subjugate them in the popular imagination; on non-Black bodies, these traits are perceived as empowering, liberating, sexy, and sometimes humorous. Simultaneously perturbed and inspired by celebrity examples such as Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Awkwafina, I have been scrutinizing this trend in popular culture of emulating and attempting to embody monolithic perceptions of Blackness. I am collecting data on how Black women’s aesthetics are embodied as a means of asserting latent or repressed sexualities to enhance an adultified representation.

I ask several questions in my pursuit of this information: What are the primary avenues through which Black culture has influenced popular culture? How have those avenues shifted over the last decade? How do the fashion and beauty industries intersect in shaping and appropriating Black cultural trends? What role does class play in the establishment and appropriation of Black cultural trends, and how does it shape the accessibility and commodification of these trends in popular culture?

Through my research I intend to interrogate cultural appropriation and its manifestations in fashion, form, and language in the digital age. Grounded in Black Feminist theory, cultural criticism, historical analysis, and media analysis I plan to conduct several case studies within each of those sub-topics. My interdisciplinary approach will help me responsibly articulate the linearity and cultural significance of this work. The historical analysis demonstrates how longstanding dynamics of appropriation inform contemporary practices, and the media analysis shows how those practices evolve in digital spaces. By exploring fashion trends, I will examine the profound influences of hip-hop on popular culture, analyzing apparel (design: styles, patterns, cuts), accessories (jewelry, headwear, grills, nails), and hair (locs, braids, weaves). When I interrogate form, I will be scrutinizing cosmetic enhancements in body modifications (Brazilian Butt Lifts, lip injections), makeup (tanning, altering features), and gesture (dances, expressions of attitude). Lastly, my exploration of language will center on the appropriation of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and slang, as well as the adoption of accents and dialects. I will collect this data by conducting ethnographic observations of online spaces where trends emerge and evolve.

Social media and mass consumption essentially redefine the boundaries of racial identity by commodifying Black aesthetics. TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram provide accessibility to various cultures, allowing people to observe, interpret, and mimic cultural expressions in a vacuum. This consumption is heavily influenced by the dynamics of power, access, and visibility on social media. My work revolves around examining the impact of media and popular culture on perceptions of Blackness, as well as how Black women navigate and resist systemic oppressions. Black women have been simultaneously ridiculed and revered in American popular culture, craving their innovations while denigrating its origins. With Black women’s perspectives at the center of my work, I advance ongoing discussions of appropriation.

Although I was accepted into my program seeking to study the origins of internalized anti-Blackness and self-perception, my intellectual journey has led me to reconnect with my Black Feminist roots and embrace a project deeply embedded within the Black Feminist Tradition. Exposure to foundational and contemporary Black Feminist texts through my coursework has broadened my theoretical framework and refined my analytical lens, making my research more articulate and certain. This evolution has not only clarified my research focus but has also strengthened my commitment to producing scholarship that centers Black women’s voices and advances critical conversations on cultural appropriation.

Kara Ireland is a Black lesbian writer, poet, and scholar from Atlanta, Georgia. As a doctoral student in the Afro-American Studies department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, her research interests include Black Feminism, media studies, internalized racism, minstrelsy, and desirability politics. Grounded firmly in a Black Feminist praxis, Kara is committed to the liberation and celebration of QTBIPOC, and conducting research that privileges that calling. She holds a BA in English and an MA in American Studies from Kennesaw State University. Her master’s capstone project, titled “The Vast Unsaid: Lesbian Erasure and Celebration” allowed her to combat lesbian erasure by promoting lesbian visibility in a digital archive. Kara also partnered with the Atlanta-based organization Southern Fried Queer Pride (SFQP) to organize an in-person recurring event series under the same name. Recently honored as the Event Producer of the Year by SFQP, she has made significant contributions to the queer Atlanta scene. In addition to her scholarly work, Kara is a competing slam poet and author. By the age of 18, she had self-published five lesbian romantic fiction books. Her creative writing includes several books, short stories, and poems that explore themes of racial and sexual identity, love and relationships, mental health, and self-reflection. Her short stories often focus on girlhood, self-acceptance, friendship, and love.

Favorite Iradukunda, Kara Ireland Honored by African American Female Professors Award Association

Open mic night showcases newfound poetry club

Author celebrates the realities of queer women

African American Female Professor Awards Association, Scholarship Recipient (Chicopee, MA) – October 2024

Southern Fried Queer Pride Skillet Award for Event Producer of the Year (Atlanta, Georgia) – December 2023

Office of Equity and Inclusion Engagement Fund (University of Massachusetts) – November 2023

Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Scholar Award (Kennesaw State University) – May 2022

Alison Piepmeier Outstanding Student Award, The Southeastern Women’s Studies Association – March 2022

Graduate Teaching Assistant under Dr. David Swiderski, The History of the Civil Rights Movement, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Fall 2024

Archivist at the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive, Spring 2024-Current

Instructor of Gender and Women’s Studies, Kennesaw State University, Fall 2022-2023

ESL Instructor, Cobb County School Systems, Fall 2022-Present

Office Manager, Interdisciplinary Studies Department, Kennesaw State University, Fall 2022-May 2023

Graduate Teaching Assistant Instructor of Record, GWST 1102: Love and Sex, Kennesaw State University, Fall 2021-Spring 2022

Graduate Teaching Assistant under Dr. Stacy Keltner, GWST 1102: Love and Sex, Kennesaw State University

English Tutor, Eye Level Learning Center, January 2020-July 2022

Graduate Teaching Assistant under Dr. Nirmal Trivedi, AMST 1102: American Identities, Kennesaw State University, Fall 2020

Writing Assistant, Writing Center, Kennesaw State University (August 2018-May 2020)