Natasha Kirsten Kraus

Natasha Kirsten Kraus, born on January 13, 1966, deeply loved daughter of Wilma and Jon Kraus, died of a heart attack on Monday, December 5, 2022 at her Park Slope, Brooklyn home at the age of 56.

Kirsten came into the world as a funny, joyous, fearless and precocious young girl. As a young woman, she possessed a lively intelligence, a love of learning, and a wide-ranging curiosity about her world. She was described by friends and colleagues as brilliant, direct, dogged and generous. As an adult, she showed persistent courage and determination in struggling with and managing a variety of serious illnesses and afflictions. These ultimately cut short her career as a professor and scholar.

Kirsten grew up in Dunkirk and Fredonia, where she participated for years in competitive gymnastics and diving. She graduated from Fredonia High School as valedictorian of the Class of 1983; Wesleyan University (BA, Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, 1987), where she found a social and intellectual adventure; and the University of California-Berkeley (MA, 1991 and Ph.D., 1999 in sociology). Early on in her Berkeley years she started presenting papers to professional sociology meetings. At Berkeley Kirsten also turned her energies to protest politics for several years, creating lifelong bonds with activist friends. She became a fierce critic of social inequalities and practices.

Kirsten loved learning and teaching social theory and feminist and cultural studies. Kirsten was an adjunct professor in sociology at the University at Buffalo from 1996-1998 and an assistant professor from 1999-2001, until crippling pain required her to seek a disability leave. Still, she was awarded a research fellowship at Wesleyan University from 2005-2007, during which she completed her book, A New Type of Womanhood: Discursive Politics and Social Change in Antebellum America (Duke, 2008). This used a new analytical explanation to demonstrate how the women's rights movement in the 1850s helped to bring a dramatic shift in cultural thinking about the idea of womanhood and prompted a new law in 1860 in New York State. This finally permitted and empowered married women to hold and manage their own property, which reshaped the civic presence of women in society. Kirsten was invited to join a faculty/graduate student seminar at Yale University's Center for Cultural Studies for two years, 2007-2009.

Kirsten was a brilliant social theorist. Her illnesses sensitized her to the persistent problems of inadequate attention to the needs of the sick and disabled. As Kirsten's own illnesses grew more severe, she lived near her parents in Brooklyn where they shared her life and assisted her medically. Intermittently Kirsten recovered somewhat and resumed her social life. In person, in writing, and on social media, Kirsten always expressed a lively, generous, and insistent intelligence that was concerned with our society's dilemmas.

In her mid 20s, Kirsten became completely devoted to her rescue dog, Krupskaya, who was her faithful companion for 14 years. Krupskaya's, and her successors, Mila's and Dori's, deep friendships with other dogs sensitized Kirsten to the complexities of dog society and dog-human relationships.

She is survived by her parents, Wilma and Jon; and her sister, Wendy.

Contributions in Kirsten's memory can be made to the Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue, 7540 North Gale Street, Westfield, NY 14787.

Obituary from the Observer

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