Karra Shimabukuro, a recent graduate of Medieval Literature Studies, has recently accepted a tenure-track position at Elizabeth City State University, an HBCU in Eastern North Carolina. Shimabukuro graduated from UNM in December 2017, and her research focuses on how folkloric figures throughout medieval and early modern English literature reflect their historical and cultural moments. Her most recent scholarship includes a chapter in an edited collection that considers the role of the devil in the culture wars as reflected in The Passion of the Christ and The Last Temptation of Christ, and is currently working on a chapter that analyzes how the portrayal of exorcisms in horror films reflects social anxieties. She is also focused on reworking the material from her dissertation into a book project that examines the politics of the English devil in medieval and early modern English literature.
Shimabukuro is from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, so she is happy to be returning home and working at a teaching focused school, where she can contribute to the community and help support first generation students like herself.
