Ingrid Walker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor ; Graduate Faculty

Contact information

Dept: Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
Room: GWP 224
Phone: 253-692-4739
Email: iwalker2@u.washington.edu
Web: http://tinyurl.com/WalkerScholar

Degrees

  • B.A., English, Saint Mary's College, California, 1986.
  • Ph.D., American Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992.

Biography

My teaching and scholarship focus on 20th - 21st Century American culture-- particularly popular forms (film, music, television, comix, art, literature, fashion, etc.). I've published work on conspiracy theory, television dramas (X Files, Sopranos), gangsters/gangstas, and white supremacism. Currently, I'm working on a study of the advertising, policy, and popular culture produced about the U.S. "drug war."

In teaching, I work with students to examine narratives of cultural history and politics in different cultural forms of expression. Some of my courses are open-source; we develop content together. Past subject areas include:

  • Artificial Intelligence (interdisciplinary course with computer science)
  • Madness and the Visionary in American Gothic (literature and popular culture)
  • Remembering the Vietnam War (interdisciplinary course with history)
  • American Renaissance
  • American Modernism
  • American Postmodernism
  • Conspiracy Theory and Political History
  • American Ethnic Writers (Reconstruction - present)
  • Contemporary American Popular Culture
  • Author-based courses (H. Melville, W. Faulkner, T. Morrison)

I've also worked in regional accreditation, consulting with over 200 colleges and universities across the United States on effectiveness and sustainability. I'm involved, nationally, in the American Culture and Popular Culture Associations.

With the other hours of the day, I'm a mom, runner, gardener, and maker. I've got a jukebox going in my head 24/7. And I love riding my bike around Tacoma even if there are monstrous hills.