Associate Professor Hejtmanek studies self transformation, sport and fitness, popular culture, and youth.
Katherine (Katie Rose) Hejtmanek
Associate Professor, Anthropology and Archaeology and Children and Youth Studies
Education
Ph.D. Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2004–10
A.M. Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2002–04
B.A. Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1998–2000
Research Interests
I am a psychological, cultural, and medical anthropologist with a research focus on cultural processes of self transformation, embodiment, and power. My research has taken me to a mental institution for children, CrossFit gyms, strength sports collectives and teams, and communities of functional and anti-aging medicine.
I've investigated emotional and subjective transformation or healing in psychiatric custody for children in the United States. I published a book, Friendship, Love, and Hip Hop: An Ethnography of African American Men in Psychiatric Custody (Palgrave Macmillan 2015), and other articles on this topic.
My current research looks at the self-cultivation, embodiment, and power within functional fitness, functional and anti-aging medicine, and strength sports in the United States. I have published on this research in American Anthropologist. It has been highlighted in the online magazine linking science, psychiatry, and social justice, Mad in America, and on a strength sport website where I talk about gym culture and booty shorts among other things (for a full list click here). I have also contributed to Indent: Body Performativity, an online journal on performance in South Asia, through a personal essay on built female bodies and patriarchy systems. Current pop culture features include a Nice Try! Podcast episode on “The Weight” from Curbed and Vox Media and an episode of Ahead of Their Time on F45 and Zumba fitness trends from Channel News Asia. I am currently working on a monograph and edited volume. The edited volume, Strong A(s) Feminist: Power in Strength Sports, was workshopped and presented at a conference at the University of Notre Dame October 25-26, 2021.
I integrate past research on mental health with current research on fitness projects through the topic of the Anthropology of Anxiety, funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, and in collaboration with my Co-PIs Nutsa Batiashvili and Stéphanie Larchanche.
During COVID-19, a biological anthropology colleague (Dr. Cara Ocobock) and I conducted a survey on the way stay-at-home orders affected exercise routines and perceptions of health and well-being. We have found that those with some sort of extra-gym exercise practice or non-exercise hobby faired the best in terms of perceptions of mental and physical health. Also, women were more resilient than men. Those who mostly lifted at the gym faired the worst. We are working on peer-reviewed articles, but check out this cool infographic on how lifters faired and what they can do next time!
Contact
Department of Anthropology
3307 James Hall
Brooklyn College
2900 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210
Office: 3301E James Hall
P: 718.951.5000 ext. 6791
F: 718.951.3169
E: KHejtmanek@brooklyn.cuny.edu
