Cait Parker

Cait Parker is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Humanities at Simmons University, specializing in the history of the late-20th-century United States. Her research and teaching focus on gender, sexuality, social movements, and the contemporary carceral state, with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ activism and prison abolition.

Education:

• BA in History from Radford University
• MA in English from Radford University
• PhD in American Studies from Purdue University

Research Interests: Parker’s interdisciplinary work examines activism by incarcerated lesbian and queer women through prison exposés, poetry, visual arts, underground press, and oral histories with formerly incarcerated political prisoners. She also explores the intersection of public history and carceral tourism.

Scientific Awards:

• Writers and Artists Grant from the Gay and Lesbian Review

Contact: caitlyn.parker@simmons.edu