Karen Nairn

Academic advisorsAdrienne Alton-Lee, Robert Garth CantAcademic workInstitutionsUniversity of Otago

Karen Marie Nairn is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor of education at the University of Otago, specialising in youth-centred research.

Nairn was a high school geography teacher interested in environmental issues, before entering academia.^[1] Nairn completed a Master of Arts in geography at the University of Canterbury in 1994, and then went on to do a PhD titled Disciplining identities: gender, geography and the culture of fieldtrips at the University of Waikato.^[2][3] Nairn then joined the faculty of the University of Otago, rising to associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2022.^[4][5]

Nairn's research focus is young people and social movements. Nairn was the lead researcher on a 2017 Marsden grant about young people's engagement in social movements, with collaborators Joanna Kidman, Judith Sligo, and Anita Lacey.^[6] This work led to the publication of the book Fierce Hope: Youth Activism in Aotearoa in 2022, which covers youth-led groups working in areas such as indigenous land rights, sexual violence and social inequality.^[7] This was the second Marsden grant Nairn has received, having published Children of Rogernomics: A Neoliberal Generation Leaves School in 2012 from an earlier Marsden-funded research project on the impact of neoliberal reform in New Zealand.^[5] Nairn has also research the impact of a Year 12 (last year of high school) leadership programme for young women.^[5]

Nairn spoke about youth activism and Ihumātao alongside Qiane Matata-Sipu at the 2023 Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival.^[8]

• Nairn, Karen; Higgins, Jane; Sligo, Judith, eds. (2012). Children of Rogernomics: A Neoliberal Generation Leaves School. Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-877578-18-2.
• Nairn, Karen; Sligo, Judith; Showden, Carisa R.; Matthews, Kyle R.; Kidman, Joanna, eds. (December 2022). Fierce Hope. Youth Activism in Aotearoa. Bridget Williams Books. ISBN 9781990046681.

• Jenny Cameron; Karen Nairn; Jane Higgins (May 2009). "Demystifying Academic Writing: Reflections on Emotions, Know-How and Academic Identity". Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 33 (2): 269–284. doi:10.1080/03098260902734943. ISSN 0309-8265. Wikidata Q124816256.
• Karen Nairn; Jenny Munro; Anne B. Smith (May 2005). "A counter-narrative of a 'failed' interview". Qualitative Research. 5 (2): 221–244. doi:10.1177/1468794105050836. ISSN 1468-7941. Wikidata Q124816257.
• Karen Nairn; Jenny Cameron; Megan Anakin; Adisorn Juntrasook; Rob Wass; Judith Sligo; Catherine Morrison (12 November 2014). "Negotiating the challenge of collaborative writing: learning from one writing group's mutiny". Higher Education Research and Development. 34 (3): 596–608. doi:10.1080/07294360.2014.973383. ISSN 0729-4360. Wikidata Q124816056.
• Karen Nairn; Ruth Panelli; Jaleh McCormack (1 February 2003). "Destabilizing Dualisms: Young People's Experiences of Rural and Urban Environments". Childhood (in German). 10 (1): 9–42. doi:10.1177/0907568203010001002. ISSN 0907-5682. Wikidata Q124816252.
• Karen Nairn; Jane Higgins; Brigid Thompson; Megan Anderson; Nedra Fu (17 July 2006). "'It's Just Like the Teenage Stereotype, You Go Out and Drink and Stuff': Hearing from Young People who Don't Drink". Journal of Youth Studies. 9 (3): 287–304. doi:10.1080/13676260600805655. ISSN 1367-6261. Wikidata Q111222456.
• Karen Nairn (July 2005). "The Problems of Utilizing 'Direct Experience' in Geography Education". Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 29 (2): 293–309. doi:10.1080/03098260500130635. ISSN 0309-8265. Wikidata Q124816250.
• Carisa R. Showden; Emma Barker-Clarke; Judith Sligo; Karen Nairn (6 February 2023). "The connective is communal: hybrid activism in online & offline spaces". Social Movement Studies: 1–20. doi:10.1080/14742837.2023.2171387. ISSN 1474-2837. Wikidata Q124816043.

• Fierce hope and research with young people, Nairn's inaugural professorial lecture, 29 September 2022, via YouTube