Julia Kirchner is a cultural anthropologist whose research interests include violence, poverty, and marginalized populations in the United States. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her doctoral dissertation was titled,”Never Put Your Head Down Unless You Pray: The Stories of African American Men in the Wisconsin Prison System.”
Kirchner’s Master of Science degree is from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she wrote her thesis, “View from the Bottom: The Experiences of W2 Transitionals Under Wisconsin’s ‘Welfare Reform’ Law.” Kirchner also has a Certificate in Museum Studies from UW-Milwaukee. Her BA was from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she completed a double major in Anthropology and in English with Creative Writing Emphasis.
Kirchner has taught more than 30 service learning classes at MIAD and was the Service Learning Coordinator for the first five years of the program. She also teaches “Human Thought and Action,” and developed two cultural studies courses called “Origins of Human Violence” and “The Anthropology of Animals.”
Kirchner’s doctoral dissertation: Never Put Your Head Down Unless You Pray – The Stories of African American Men in the Wisconsin Prison System