Karen Li Miller teaches American culture and literature courses. Her interests include nineteenth-century, multi-ethnic, women's, children's, and material culture studies. Her dissertation, Locating Reproduction: Representations of the Chinese in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, explored the theme of reproduction in a range of perspectives, from the politics of individual women's bodies to American immigration policies to Sino-American relations. The project examined a variety of texts and materials, including canonical writings, such as Melville and Twain, historical women’s publications, children’s missionary periodicals, chinoiserie, photographs, and toys. This interdisciplinary and multi-layered research approach informs her teaching philosophy. Through interactive assignments and discussions, she works to extend students' sense of connection and authority with our texts as well as in their multiple communities, from local to global.