Karen G. Williams is an assistant professor of anthropology at Guttman Community College in New York City. Her research examines strategies implemented inside correctional facilities to help incarcerated people return home to their communities. She has practiced vipassana meditation since 2008. She cochairs New York Insight’s Diversity, Equity, and Liberation committee. She graduated from the joint Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Training Program, and since then has primarily taught in BIPOC and in LGBTQIA+ communities. She’s passionate about the intersection of dharma and abolition. She’s also on the board of Insight Meditation Society and part of the program collective for the Association of Black Anthropologists.
When she’s not teaching, she’s caring for a little human named Grey; her current joy and primary focus of practice. She also enjoys knitting, cooking, and inhabiting her alter ego (dare we talk of egos) BackAlley Dred while coaching junior roller derby.