Karah M. Mitchell

Karah M. Mitchell is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Missouri (College of Arts and Science). Her research focuses on American literature from the colonial period to 1914, environmental humanities, animal studies, and children’s literature. She holds a PhD in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2024), an MA from the University of Missouri (2016), and a BA from Louisiana State University (2014).

Her current book project, Primary Lessons: Animals, Children, and Human(e) Education in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, explores how children’s literature shaped historical developments in humane education and animal welfare. This work bridges literary studies with interdisciplinary approaches, emphasizing transatlantic and transnational dimensions of animal welfare discourse. Mitchell has held research fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society, and her work has appeared in journals like American Literature and The Concord Saunterer.

Teaching awards include the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (UNC, 2024) and the Student Undergraduate Teaching Award (UNC Chancellor’s Awards, 2022). Her courses cover topics like animals in literature, poetry, and science writing, with a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. Mitchell’s research and pedagogy emphasize historical intersections between literary texts and evolving human-animal-environment relationships.