Karen Robert
BA (QUEENS), MA, PHD (MICHIGAN)
PROFESSOR, HISTORY
Karen Robert is a Professor of History at St. Thomas University, where she teaches courses in Latin American and World History, research methods, and global automobility. A scholar of modern Argentina, her research addresses themes of material culture, labour, human rights, and memory.
Robert’s recent book, Driving Terror: Labor, Violence, and Justice in Cold War Argentina (University of New Mexico Press, 2025), focuses on labour repression and corporate complicity with Argentina’s last military dictatorship through a focus on the Ford Motor Company. It tells the story of a group of Ford autoworkers who were ‘disappeared’ and tortured for their union activism in 1976, and who fought a decades-long legal battle against their former employer. The book also traces the symbolic evolution of the Ford Falcon sedan, a beloved family car that morphed into a tool of state terrorism under military rule, when it was used in thousands of similar kidnapping operations. Robert also translated Memories of Buenos Aires: Signs of State Terrorism in Argentina (University of Massachusetts Press, 2013), a comprehensive guide to hundreds of memory sites relating to the dictatorship years.
Robert has also dedicated herself to innovative pedagogy throughout her career. She helped build the STU history department’s unique World History curriculum, and she served as campus Remote Teaching Coordinator during the COVID lockdowns. She has trained and experimented for over a decade in the field of contemplative pedagogy, applying mindfulness practices in her classroom to support students’ cognitive skills and wellbeing. In 2023 she co-edited Presence in the Online World: A Contemplative Perspective and Practice Guide for Educators (Rowman & Littlefield).