Faculty Profile for Dr. Katie Kapurch
Biography Section
Biography and Education
Katie Kapurch, Ph.D. is Professor of English at Texas State University. As a scholar of pop culture, she has written widely about Disney and the Beatles, as well as other pop phenomena such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and the Twilight series.Katie is currently working on two books, one about the Disneyfication of pop musicians and the other about the mermaid as pop icon. Katie serves as co-editor of the journal AMP: American Music Perspectives.
Research Interests
Katie's scholarship focuses on icons and the iconic, especially popular phenomena at the intersections of literature, music, and film.Her recently published book, Blackbird: How Black Musicians Sang the Beatles into Being-- and Sang Back to Them Ever After is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Blackbird is co-authored with Jon Marc Smith.
Katie's first monograph is about melodrama in girl culture and uses Twilight and Jane Eyre as touchstones.
In addition to many chapters and articles, Katie has also published two edited collections about the Beatles, and her current projects focus on Disney, pop music (Taylor Swift and Beyoncé), and mermaids.
Selected Scholarly/Creative Work
- Kapurch, K. (2024). Once Upon a Fishtail in Aquamarine, an Ecofeminist Fairy Tale: Mermaids and/as Water Girls from 19th Century Fairy Tales to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989; 2023). Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 26(3), 320–354. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5325/intelitestud.26.3.0320
- Kapurch, K., Mills, R., & Heyman, M. (Eds.). (2023). The Beatles and Humour: Mockers, Funny Papers, and Other Play. Bloomsbury Press.
- Kapurch, K., & Everett, W. (2023). Come Together: Feeling the Distemper of Murk and Elation with the Beatles (1969) and with Sheila E. and Ringo Starr (2017 and 2020). In W. Moylan, L. Burns, & M. Alleyne (Eds.), Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives on Popular Music Tracks. Routledge.
- Kapurch, K., & Smith, J. M. (2023). Blackbird: How Black Musicians Sang the Beatles into Being-- and Sang Back to Them Ever After. Penn State University Press.
- Kapurch, K. (2023, September 12). Why ‘Barbie’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ made 2023 the dead girl summer. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/why-barbie-and-the-little-mermaid-made-2023-the-dead-girl-summer-210436
Selected Awards
- Award / Honor Nominee: Gustave O. Arlt Award, Council of Graduate Schools. January 31, 2018 - December 2018
- Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University. February 1, 2018 - July 2018
- Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, Department of English, Texas State University. November 1, 2017 - February 2018
- Award / Honor Recipient: College of Liberal Arts Achievement Award for Scholarly Excellence, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University. August 2016
- Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, Department of English, Texas State University. November 1, 2015
Selected Grants
- Kapurch, Katie (Principal). Awards for Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Federal, $60000. (Submitted: April 2018, Funded: January 2020 - December 2020). Grant.
- Kapurch, Katie. Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 2020, Funded: January 2021 - May 2022). Grant.
- Kapurch, Katie (Principal). Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University. (Submitted: October 2016, Funded: January 2017 - September 2017). Grant.
Selected Service Activities
Member
Onling Teaching Taskforce/Subcommittee
August 2024-Present
Co-Organizer
Collegiality Events
August 1, 2024-Present
Member
Liberal Arts Communicators Group
2023-Present
Editorial Review Board Member
International Journal of Disney Studies
2023-Present
Reader
MA Literature Exams
September 2014-Present