Kimberly Powell Headshot

Kimberly Powell

  • Associate Professor of Education (Language, Culture & Society), Art Education, and Asian Studies
Walking and Sensory Methodologies
https://ed.psu.edu/directory/kap17https://sova.psu.edu/profile/kimberlypowellhttp://walkinglab.org/

Dr. Powell holds a dual appointment in the College of Education and the College of Arts and Architecture. She is an affiliate faculty member in the Asian Studies Department in the College of Liberal Arts and an affiliate fellow with the Arts and Design Research Incubator (ADRI) in the College of Arts and Architecture. A curriculum theorist and educational anthropologist, her research interests include the arts as intercultural practices of identity and social inquiry, embodiment, public pedagogy, sensory and arts-based research methodologies, ethnography, and educational anthropology. Her current research projects include StoryWalks, an exploration into walking as an artful practice of placemaking, identity, and social inquiry. Her research, part of a larger, international research initiative on walking, is documented on the website: www.walkinglab.org 

She has published both within and outside of the field of art education in order to create a dialogue across disciplinary borders about the arts in and as everyday life. Her work appears in journals such as Anthropology & Education Quarterly, International Journal of Education & the Arts, Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Qualitative Inquiry, and Studies in Art Education, and several book chapters pertaining to arts education, comprehensive education, and ethnographic methods. She was a section editor for the International Handbook of Research in Arts Education, and is the co-editor, with Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Mackinlay, of The Routledge International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research.

  • Publications

    Selected Publications

    Powell, K., & Gershon, W. (2020). Sound Ethnography. Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology. Jackson, J. (Ed.). Role: Primary author. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/ . DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199766567-0248

    Powell, K., (2020). Walking refrains for storied movement. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies. 20(1), 35-42. Special Issue: Embodying Moral Discourses through Arts-based Methodologies: Poetry, Visual Arts, Movement, Sounds and Performance.

    Powell, K., & Shields, S. (2019). Quotidian practices and the ways of art. Visual Arts Research 45(1), 125-129. Special Issue: Women Art Educators in Higher Education: Conversations on Studio Practices.

    Powell, K. (2019). Walking as precarious public pedagogy. Journal of Public Pedagogies, 4, 191-202. Special Issue: Walking Lab.

    Powell, K., & Uhlig, S. (2019). (Un)Boxing the senses: A multisensory artistic response for a curriculum in sensory ethnography. In W. Gershon (Ed.), Sensuous curriculum: Politics and the senses in education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

    Powell, K. Ballangee Morris, C., Garoian, C. R., & Cornwall, J. (2017). Sound walking for moving potentials. Visual Arts Research, 43(2), 107-118. www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/visuartsrese.43.2.0107.

    Powell, K. (2017). StoryWalking: Place-based narratives of identity, history and interculturality in San Jose Japantown, USA. In P. Burnard, V. Ross, E. Mackinlay, K. Powell, T. Dragovic, & H.J. Minors (Eds.), Building interdisciplinary and intercultural bridges: Where practice meets research and theory (pp. 142-149). E-book, open access Online Publication by BIBACC available through www.bibacc.org

    Powell, K. (2016). Multimodal mapmaking: Working toward an entangled methodology of place. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 47(4), 402-420.

    Powell, K. (2016). Making sense of research. Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art, 5(1), 15-23. Special Issue: The Great Work of our Lives: Exploring educational terrains in art and pedagogy.

    Powell, K., & Schulte, C. (2016). “Radical Hospitality”: Food + drink as intercultural exchange. In P. Burnard, L. McKinley, & K. Powell (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of intercultural arts (pp. 238-247). London: Routledge. Information available at https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138909939

    Powell, K. (2015). Taiko drumming as sound knowledge. IK: Other ways of knowing, 1(2), 112-117.

    Powell, K. (2015). Breathing photography: Prosthetic encounters in research-creation. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(6), 529-538. http://qix.sagepub.com/content/21/6/529.abstract.

    Powell, K. (2014). Elliot Eisner and an education in connections. International Journal of Education & The Arts, 15(1), 1-5. Special Issue: In Memoriam - Elliot Eisner. Information available awww.ijea.org/v15si1/.

    Powell, K. & Serriere, S. (2013). Image-based participatory pedagogies: Reimagining social justice. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 14(15), 1-27. www.ijea.org/v14n15/.

    LaJevic, L., & Powell, K. (2012). Knitting curriculum: Storied threads of pre-service art teaching. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 28(1), 175-190. http://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/issue/view/15/showToc.

    Powell, K. (2012). Composing sound identity in taiko drumming. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 43(1), 101-119.

    Powell, K. & LaJevic, L. (2011). Emergent places in pre-service art teaching: Lived curriculum, relationality and embodied knowledge. Studies in Art Education, 53(1), 35-52.

    Powell, K. (2010). Making sense of place: Mapping as a multisensory research method. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(7), 539-555. http://qix.sagepub.com/content/16/7.toc.

    Powell, K. (2010). Viewing places: Students as visual ethnographers. Art Education, 63(6), 44-53.

    Powell, K. (2008). Drumming against the quiet: The sounds of Asian American identity in an amorphous landscape. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(6), 901-925.

    Powell, K. (2008). ReMapping the city: Palimpsest, place, and identity in art education research. Studies in Art Education, 50(1), 6-21.

    Powell, K. (2005). The ensemble art of the solo: The social and cultural construction of artistic practice and identity in a Japanese American taiko ensemble. Journal of Art and Learning Research, 21(1), 273-295

    Books

    Burnard, P., Ross, V., Mackinlay, E., Powell, K., Dragovic, T. & Minors, H.J. (Eds.). (2017). Building interdisciplinary and intercultural bridges: Where practice meets research and theory (pp. 142-149). E-book, open access Online Publication by BIBACC available through www.bibacc.org

    Burnard, P., Mackinlay, E., & Powell, K. (Eds). (2016). The Routledge International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research. Available for order through https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-International-Handbook-of-Intercultural-Arts-Research/Burnard-Mackinlay-Powell/p/book/9781138909939

    Selected Articles and Chapters

    Powell, K. (2017). StoryWalking: Place-based narratives of identity, history and interculturality in San Jose Japantown, USA. In Burnard, P., Ross, V., Mackinlay, E., Powell, K., Dragovic, T. & Minors, H.J. (Eds.). Building interdisciplinary and intercultural bridges: Where practice meets research and theory (pp. 142-149). E-book, open access Online Publication by BIBACC available through www.bibacc.org

    Powell, K. (2016). Multimodal mapmaking: Working toward an entangled methodology of place. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 47(4), 402-420.

    Burnard, P., McKinley, L. & Powell, K. (Eds.) (2016). The Routledge international handbook of intercultural arts. London: Routledge.

    Powell, K. & Schulte, C. (2016). “Radical Hospitality”: Food + drink as intercultural exchange. In P. Burnard, L. McKinley, & K. Powell (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of intercultural arts (pp. 238-247). London: Routledge

    Powell, K. (2015). Breathing photography: Prosthetic encounters in research-creation. Qualitative Inquiry,21(6), 529-538.

    Powell, K. & Serriere, S. (2013). Image-based participatory pedagogies: Reimagining social justice.International Journal of Education & The Arts 14(15), 1-27.

    Powell, K. (2012). Composing sound identity in taiko drumming. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 43(1), 101-119

    Powell, K. & LaJevic, L. (2011). Emergent places in pre-service art teaching: Lived curriculum, relationality and embodied knowledge. Studies in Art Education, 53(1), 35-52.

    Powell, K. (2010). Making sense of place: Mapping as a multisensory research method. Qualitative Inquiry,16(7), 539-555

    Powell, K. (2008). ReMapping the city: Palimpsest, place, and identity in art education research. Studies in Art Education, 50(1), 6-21.

  • Performances

    Workshops

    Powell, (2016). Walk, Play, Place: Walk, Place, Place: Walking as Intercultural Play". Building Interdisciplinary Bridges Across Cultures, Cambridge, UK

    Powell, K. (2015). Playwalking. The Arts and Design Research Incubator (ADRI), College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State University, University Park

  • Grants

    Grants

    Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Springgay, S., (Principal Investigator), Hickey, A. (Co-Applicant), Phillips, L. (Co-Applicant), and Powell, K. (Co-Applicant). “Performing Lines: Walking and Sensory Methodology.” Grant period: April 15, 2014 – April 15, 2017

    College of Education Research Initiative Grant. Penn State University. Gamson, D. (Principal Investigator), Frankenberg, E. & Powell, K. "Schooling in Cyberia: Analyzing the contexts and effects of cyber charter schools and online learning in Pennsylvania public schools.” Grant period: September 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015.

    Children, Youth, and Family Consortium, Penn State University. Powell, K. (Principal Investigator), Byun, S., Schafft, K. A., Guest, S. "Literacy Through Photography: Examining a multimodal approach to literacy enhancement and school attachment within a disadvantaged rural setting," Grant period: September 1, 2013- June 30, 2014.

    College of Education Research Initiative Grant, Penn State University. Powell, K. (Principal Investigator), Byun, S., Schafft, K. & Guest, S. "Literacy Through Photography: Examining a multimodal approach to literacy enhancement and school attachment within a disadvantaged rural setting," Grant period: September 1, 2013- June 30, 2014.

  • Presentations & Workshops

    Workshops

    Powell, K. A. (May 15, 2019). Walking as Sensory Inquiry, International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL. International.

    Powell, K. (Co-Presenter), & Hieronymi, A. (April 11, 2019). Storying through movement: Walking, sensing, and making places, Arts and Design Research Incubator, Penn State University. Local.

    Powell, K. A. (March 29, 2018). Storying through movement: Walking, sensing, and making places, Arts and Design Research Incubator, Penn State University. Local.

    Powell, K. A. (Co-Presenter), & Taylor, C. (Sheffield Hallam University (UK)). (February 7, 2018). Walking with string: Research-creation experiments for moving bodies, European International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, peer-reviewed/refereed. International.

    Powell, K. A. (November 6, 2017). Taiko Drumming for Music 460: Teaching Musical Cultures,, Penn State University, University Park, PA.

    Powell, (2016). Walk, Play, Place: Walk, Place, Place: Walking as Intercultural Play". Building Interdisciplinary Bridges Across Cultures, Cambridge, UK

    Powell, K. (2015). Playwalking. The Arts and Design Research Incubator (ADRI), College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State University, University Park

    Selected Presentations

    Powell, K. (2017) StoryWalking in places: Walking as embodied biography and social history. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Powell, K. (2017) Making sense of research. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Powell, K. (2017). Shifting concepts in art education. Council for Policy Studies in Art Education, New York, NY

    Powell, K. (2017). Thinking with theory in art education research. National Art Education Association, New York, NY

    Powell, K. (2017). Walking with Children: Moving through Material Encounters with Urban Spaces. European International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Leuven, Belgium

    Powell, K. (2016). StoryWalks: Place and narrative on the move in San Jose Japantown, CA. American Anthropological Association. Minneapolis, MN

    Powell, K. (2016). StoryWalking: Place-based narratives of identity, history, and interculturality in San Jose Japantown, USA. Building Interdisciplinary Bridges Across Cultures, Cambridge, UK

    Powell, K. (2016). Walking as an artful trajectory of thinking-in-movement. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Powell, K. (2016). Sensory ethnography for Art Education. National Art Education Association, Chicago, IL

    Powell, K. (2016). Artful engagements: Arts-based methods for community-based research. National Art Education Conference, Chicago, IL

    Powell, K. (2016). Arts-based Research. (Walking as StoryWalk). Art Education Research Institute, Naperville, IL

    Powell, K. (2015). Walking as place-making methodology. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Powell, K. (2015). Prosthesis and semblance in photography: On becoming qualitative inquiry. Invited panel (repeated presentation from previous year) at International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL