2005 POINT SCHOLARS

Michelle Carnes

Carlos Enrique Cisneros Point Scholar

American University

Anthropology

Michelle Carnes is an Anthropology Ph.D. student at American University in Washington DC, studying gender and sexualities in different cultural contexts. She left her Indiana hometown to work two jobs at Purdue University so she could become the second female in her family to earn her BA. She also came out of the closet to a close knit group of friends and her family. She entered doctoral study at American University in 2002, teaching courses with titles such as, “Sex, Gender and Culture” and “Lesbian and Gay Cultures.” She is a documentary filmmaker, working on her third documentary film about African-American lesbian bar culture in Washington DC. Her work has received numerous awards, including Best Social Science Graduate Paper at the College of Arts and Sciences Conference in 2005, Mellon grants to support her research and the BridgeBuilders Award from the GLBTA Resource Center for campus activism.

In Michelle’s own words: “Being the first in my family’s history to say, ‘I’m Dr. Carnes’ is a tremendous honor and responsibility. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer scholars aren’t just the future — it’s our chance to change the world for the better, our work is urgent, our time is now.”