Alison Kafer

Alison Kafer serves as Associate Professor of Feminist Studies and Director of the LGBTQ Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin within the College of Liberal Arts. She earned her Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in 2005 and maintains an active teaching schedule with office hours listed for current and upcoming semesters.

Her research critically examines intersections between disability, queerness, and feminist theory through frameworks like crip theory. Kafer is the author of the foundational monograph Feminist, Queer, Crip (Indiana University Press, 2013), which challenges normative timelines of health and ability while exploring environmental connections to disability. Her work consistently addresses embodied experiences of illness, madness, and ecological relationships.

Kafer teaches specialized courses including "Queer/Feminist Illness and Disability" and "Disability/Environment", with publications appearing in Disability Studies Quarterly, Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, and South Atlantic Quarterly. Her pedagogical approach integrates feminist, queer, and crip perspectives across undergraduate seminars focused on bodily difference and social justice.