Clayton Jarrard
An aspiring public intellectual of sorts, I prioritize creativity and innovation in all facets of my professional and scholarly work. Currently, I am a Research Project Coordinator at the University of Kansas, contributing to initiatives that bridge research, policy, and community efforts. In May of 2020, I graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and a minor in Queer Studies.
I am experienced in participatory research, qualitative research and evaluation, and ethnographic research in both applied and academic settings.
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Research Interests
My scholarly engagement spans the subject areas of Cultural Anthropology, Queer Studies, Disability and Mad Studies, Critical Race Studies, and Religious Studies.
Research in my undergraduate career focused on the tensions between American Christianity and the LGBTQ+ community. Specifically, I studied how queer Christians build online communities of support and belonging in response to spiritual trauma. I endeavor to explore ways in which people and communities interact with moral "Truth" and the spiritual dimensions of social issues. I engage with these topics and more in my featured writing, videography, and research projects.
My recent work utilizes queer mad theories with anthropology of religion and racialization to expose faulty distinctions that pathologize the Other as irrational and Others’ spiritualities as productive of irrationality.
Community Involvement
Applying Research and Experience for Social Change
While acknowledging the relationships of access I am afforded as a cisgender white man, I want to participate in a theory-practice that makes livable worlds, with a commitment to reparations and decolonization. As a cultural anthropologist by training, I value the various backgrounds and experiences of individuals and communities, and I long to humbly collaborate alongside those most impacted for social change.
My professional experience at the KU Center for Public Partnerships and Research is invested in bettering the experiences of children, families, and communities. I have volunteered with a grassroots disability justice organization that supports folks experiencing mental illness/madness, Disability, trauma, and neurodivergence. As well, I work on various advocacy projects with a local community shelter that serves clients experiencing houselessness.
"Put simply, I desired recognition for those whose suffering went unacknowledged."