Lucinda Carspecken

I am interested in ways of knowing that go beyond (but also include) cognition. My most recent edited book "Love in the Time of Ethnography: Essays on Connection as a Focus and Basis for Research" (2018) explored love as a means to understanding in social inquiry.

My graduate studies were in Anthropology, and I value diverse perspectives in the classroom, whether from around the world, from non traditional age groups, from different groups within the United States or from different religious (and nonreligious) communities. I appreciate what students from different backgrounds have taught me over the years.

Since I teach both quantitative and qualitative methods I have a lot of opportunities to focus on the common ground between these two approaches to research; the way they both draw from one another and complement one another. We explore foundational issues in class, such as how we make sense of, or try to make sense of, the world around us, how we try to make sense of ourselves and other human beings, and how we can communicate more fully and effectively with one another.

In the past I have studied and written about the caregivers of people with dementia, Turkish Alevi poetry and cross-cultural relationships. My first book, "An Unreal Estate: Sustainability and Freedom in an Evolving Community", (2012), was about a community of environmentalists. I am currently involved in a project that introduces global literacy to rural Indiana schools, and am also involved in the Feminist Research Collective, which gathers women's stories from around the world. I advocate for research that shows – ways forward – as well as critiques.