Kathy Carbone

Kathy Carbone is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at Pratt Institute, affiliated with the Spatial Analysis & Visualization Initiative. She co-founded and directs The Amplification Project, a digital archive addressing forced migration through art and community collaboration. Her work bridges contemporary art, critical archival studies, and human rights, emphasizing archives as tools for resistance and solidarity.

• Education:
  • Ph.D., Information Studies, UCLA
  • MLIS, Kent State University
  • MA and BFA in Dance, Ohio University
• Professional Experience:
  • Past roles include CalArts Institute Archivist, director of Rwanda’s Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center Library, and Public Services Manager at Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library.
  • Former dancer and choreographer with Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater, among others.

Her research explores archives as sites of expressive resistance, with publications in Archivaria, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, and International Journal of Human Rights. Recent work includes analyzing refugee rights documentation (R3 Initiative) and art’s role in confronting erasure.

Publications highlight intersections of art, archives, and human rights, such as Art Against Erasure (2025) and collaborative studies on bureaucratic violence and recordkeeping. She advocates for human rights-centered archival practices and participatory archiving.

Labs/Teams: Co-leads The Amplification Project and collaborates with the Spatial Analysis & Visualization Initiative at Pratt.