Sami Schalk

{{Short description|American gender, disabilities, and women's studies academic}}

{{Infobox person

| name =

| education = BA in English, Women's Studies, Miami University, 2008

MFA in Creative Writing, University of Notre Dame, 2010

Ph.D. in Gender Studies, Indiana University, 2014

| occupation = professor, academic

| website = {{url|https://samischalk.com/}}

}}

Sami Schalk is an associate professor in the Department of Gender & Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.{{Cite web |title=Sami Schalk |url=https://disabilitystudies.wisc.edu/sami-schalk/ |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=Disability Studies |language=en-US}} She was previously an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University at Albany, SUNY.

In 2019 she started the campaign #twerkwithlizzo, combining fun with larger issues relating to racism, sexism and fatphobia as a form of "pleasure activism". Her twerking with Lizzo went viral.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Jeff |date=Spring 2020 |title=The Professor Who Twerked with Lizzo {{!}} On Wisconsin |url=https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/the-professor-who-twerked-with-lizzo/ |access-date=2023-11-13 |language=en-US}}

Cultural significance

Schalk twerked with Lizzo onstage on October 10, 2019.{{Cite web |last=Schalk |first=Sami |date=October 18, 2019 |title=When I twerked onstage with Lizzo, it was an act of political defiance |url=https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/first-person/2019/10/18/20920615/twerking-with-lizzo |website=Vox}} She twerked onstage with Janelle Monáe on the Age of Pleasure tour in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 10, 2023.{{Cite web |title=DrSamiSchalk/status/1701205507124416532?s=20 |url=https://twitter.com/DrSamiSchalk/status/1701205507124416532 |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |language=en}} She talked with Jonathan Van Ness on his Getting Curious podcast in an episode from October 26, 2022, about Black disability politics.{{Cite web |date=2022-10-26 |title=What's At The Heart Of Black Disability Politics? with Professor Sami Schalk - Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness |url=https://jonathanvanness.com/podcast/whats-at-the-heart-of-black-disability-politics-with-professor-sami-schalk/ |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=Jonathan Van Ness |language=en}}

Education

Schalk received her B.A. in English & Women's Studies in 2008, with a minor in Disability Studies, from Miami University, and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame in 2010. She received her PhD in Gender Studies from Indiana University in 2014.

Awards

  • In 2021, Schalk received the University of Wisconsin System Outstanding Women of Color Award, which is intended to honor women "for their leadership in making significant and lasting contributions to their campuses, their communities or both."{{Cite web |date=2021-09-16 |title=Associate Professor Sami Schalk recipient of UW System Outstanding Women of Color Award |url=https://gws.wisc.edu/sami-schalk-uwsystem-outstanding-women-of-color-award/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=Gender & Women's Studies |language=en-US}}
  • In 2019, Schalk received the LGBTQ Advocate of the Year award from the OutReach LGBT Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-16 |title=GWS Professor Sami Schalk Awarded OutReach LGBTQ Advocate of the Year |url=https://gws.wisc.edu/gws-professor-sami-schalk-outreach-lgbt-advocate-of-the-year/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=Gender & Women's Studies |language=en-US}}

Publications

Schalk has published numerous journal articles,Schalk, Sami. “De-politicized Diversity in the American Girl Brand” Research on Diversity in Youth Literature 2.2 (2020). Article 7.Schalk, Sami. “Strategic Alterations and Afro-Asian Connections in Paul Beatty’s Tuff.” Mosaic. 51.1 (2018). 55-70.Schalk, Sami. “BeForever?: Disability in American Girl Historical Fiction.” Children’s Literature. 45 (2017) 164-187. book chapters,Schalk, Sami. “Teaching the Social Construction of Disability through the Work of Octavia E. Butler.” Approaches to Teaching Octavia E. Butler. ed. Tarshia Stanley. Modern

Language Association of America Press, 2019. 97-102Schalk, Sami. “Resisting Erasure and Conflation: Reading Race and (Dis)ability in Speculative Media.” Routledge Companion to Disability and Media. eds. Haller, Goggin, and Ellis. London: Routledge UP, 2019. 137-146. essays,Schalk, Sami. “Foreword to the Special Issue on Disability Studies: Bodyminds, Science Fiction and Disability Studies” Journal of Science Fiction. 3.2 (2019): 10-11. reviews,Schalk, Sami. “Review of Barriers and Belongings: Personal Narratives of Disability” The ALH Online Review. Series XI. 2017. n. pag. Web. and popular articles.{{Cite web |last=Schalk |first=Sami |title=Lowbrow Culture and Guilty Pleasures? The Performance and Harm of Academic Elitism |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/02/22/professor-asks-who-arbiter-lowbrow-scholarly-interests-and-pursuits |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Inside Higher Ed |language=en}}{{Cite web |date= |title=A Call-In To White Feminists About 'Surviving R. Kelly |url=https://bust.com/feminism/195546-surviving-r-kelly-call-in.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715073916/https://bust.com/feminism/195546-surviving-r-kelly-call-in.html |archive-date=2020-07-15 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=bust.com}} In 2018, she published a monograph titled Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction.{{Cite web |date=March 2018 |title=Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women's Speculative Fiction |url=https://www.dukeupress.edu/bodyminds-reimagined |website=Duke University Press}} In 2022, she published the book Black Disability Politics.{{Cite book |last=Schalk |first=Sami |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/3091/Black-Disability-Politics |title=Black Disability Politics |date=2022-10-31 |doi=10.1215/9781478027003 |isbn=978-1-4780-9268-1 |s2cid=252170711 |language=en}} It is also available online through open access downloads from the publisher.{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=Scholar Sami Schalk Seeks To Merge The Worlds Of Black Activism And Disability Advocacy With Her New Book |url=https://www.essence.com/entertainment/sami-schalk-black-disability-politics/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Essence |language=en-US}} Her books were published through Duke University Press.

References

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