Karl Offen
Professor, Geography and the Environment Department
Senior Research Associate and Advisory Board Member, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean
Courses
- 2024 Spring
- GEO 103 Environment and Society
- GEO 300 Selected Topics - Latin American Historical Geo
- 2023 Fall
- GEO 300 Selected Topics - Maps, Power, History
- 2023 Spring
- GEO 610 Qualitative Methods in Geography
- GEO 300 Selected Topics - EnvHistory-LatinAmer&Caribbean
- 2022 Fall
- GEO 300 Selected Topics - Historical Political Ecology
Highest degree earned
Areas of Expertise
Selected Publications
- Books
- "." In The Awakening Coast: An Anthology of Moravian Writings from Mosquitia and Eastern Nicaragua, 1849-1899. Offen, K. H., Rugeley, T. (eds.) University of Nebraska Press, 2014.
- "." In Mapping Latin America: A Cartographic Reader. Dym, J., Offen, K. H. (eds.) University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Journal Articles
- Offen, K. H., "Subsidio de la naturaleza: Las tortugas verdes en el gran caribe colonial." Mesoamerica, 2023.
- Offen, K. H., "The lifeworld of Elizabeth Symons: Family biography and Atlantic geographies in the eighteenth century." Journal of Historical Geography, 2023.
- Offen, K. H., "A Miskitu Critique of British Trade Practices." Ethnohistory, 2022.
- Offen, K. H., "English Designs on Central America: Geographic Knowledge and Imaginative Geographies in the Seventeenth Century." Early American Studies, 2020.
- Offen, K. H., "Subsidy from Nature: Green Sea Turtles in the Colonial Caribbean." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2020.
- Offen, K. H., "Mapping Amerindian captivity in colonial Mosquitia." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2015.
- Offen, K. H., "Mapping Latin American Geographies." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2015.
- Book Chapters
- Offen, K. H., "Environment, Space and Place: Cultural Geographies of Colonial Afro-Latin America." In Afro-Latin American Studies: An Introduction. Fuente, A. d., Andrews, G. R. (eds.) Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- Offen, K. H., Rundstrom, R., "Indigenous Peoples and Western Cartography." In Cartography in the Twentieth Century, vol. 6: History of Cartography. Monmonier, M. (ed.) University of Chicago Press, 2015.
- Offen, K. H., "Introduction." In The Awakening Coast: An Anthology of Moravian Writings from Mosquitia and Eastern Nicaragua, 1849-1899. University of Nebraska Press, 2014.
- Offen, K. H., ""Edge of Empire;" "Minerals and War;" and "Making Black Territories"." In Mapping Latin America: A Cartographic Reader. Dym, J., Offen, K. H. (eds.) University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Offen, K. H., Dym, J., "Introduction." In Mapping Latin America: A Cartographic Reader. Dym, J., Offen, K. H. (eds.) University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Offen, K. H., "Race and Place in Colonial Mosquitia." In Blacks and Blackness in Central America: Between Race and Place. Gudmundson, L., Wolfe, J. (eds.) Duke University Press, 2010.
- Offen, K. H., "Mapping Land Politics on the Mosquito Shore." In I Found It at the JCB. , 2010.
- Book Reviews
- Offen, K. H., "The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean: Waterscapes of Labor, Conservation, and Boundary Making." In H-Environment Roundtable. H-Environment Roundtable, 2023.
- Offen, K. H., Erbig, J. A. and Hill, J. C., "." In Where Caciques and Mapmakers Met: Border Making in Eighteenth-Century South America. Bulletin of Latin American Research (2021), 2020.
- Offen, K. H., Hennessy, E., "." In On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden. Journal of Latin American Geography (2021), 2019.
- Offen, K. H., Bassi, E., "." In An Aqueous Territory: Sailor Geographies and New Granada’s Transimperial Greater Caribbean World. Journal of Latin American Geography (2017), 2016.
- Offen, K. H., Appelbaum, N. P., "." In Mapping the Country Regions: The Chorographic Commission of Nineteenth-Century Colombia. Journal of Latin American Geography (2016), 2016.
- Offen, K. H., "A Geography of Maps and Texts." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2015.
- Offen, K. H., "The visual culture of empire." Journal of Historical Geography, 2014.
- Coordinator of book review forum who authored an introduction and edited the submission
- "Introduction, book review forum, Palm Oil Diaspora: Afro-Brazilian Landscapes and Economies on Bahia's Dendê Coast." Offen, K. H. (ed.) Journal of Latin American Geography, 2023.
- Encyclopedia Entry
- Offen, K. H., "“Colombia,” “Cultural Ecology,” “Nicaragua,” “Nietschmann, Bernard Quinn,” “Nontimber Forest Products,”." Robbins, P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Environment and Society, 2007.
- M.A. thesis
- Offen, K. H., Nontimber Forest Product Extractive Economies, Caribbean Nicaragua. Historical Considerations for Conservation Policy in the Síapaz Buffer Zone. , 1993.
- Magazine/Trade Publications
- Offen, K. H., "La nueva política geográfica indígena y negra en América Latina." Wani (Managua, Nicaragua), 2005.
- Offen, K. H., "Raza y lugar en la Mosquitia colonial, 1600-1787." Wani (Managua, Nicaragua), 2005.
- Offen, K. H., "Ecología cultural miskita en los años 1650-1850." Wani (Managua, Nic.), 2002.
- Offen, K. H., "Productos forestales no maderables en el Río San Juan." Teosintle (Managua, Nicaragua), 1992.
- Online Libraries
- Offen, K. H., "Introduction to and annotation of M.W.'s 'The Mosqueto Indian and his Golden River' of 1699." Revista Temas Nicaragüense, 2013.
- Offen, K. H., "Isthmus Designs." In Cartographic Conversations, John Carter Brown Library. , 2012.
- Offen, K. H., "La cartografía colonial de Centroamérica y el topónimo ‘Mosquito’." Boletín de la AFEHC (Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica), 2011.
- Ph. D. diss.
- Offen, K. H., The Miskitu Kingdom. Landscape and the Emergence of a Miskitu Ethnic Identity, Northeastern Nicaragua and Honduras, 1600-1800. , 1999.
Presentations and Events
37th Conference of Latin American Geographers, CLAG, "The Lifeworld of Elizabeth Symons: Family biography and Atlantic geographies in a multigenerational letter collection" (January 3, 2023 - January 6, 2023)
Offen, K. H., Lovejoy, P., Múltiples facetas de la Independencia: La emancipación de América Central en retrospective, Conmemoraciones por el bicentenario de la Independencia Centroamericana (1821-2021), "The Interesting Narrative of Intrigue and Deception on the Mosquito Shore, 1773-1781" (October 14, 2021 - October 16, 2021)
36th Conference of Latin American Geographers, "Subsidy from Nature: Green Sea Turtles in the Colonial Caribbean" (January 2, 2020 - January 4, 2020)
3rd World Congress of Environmental History, "‘Infinitt numbers’: Green Sea Turtles in the Colonial Caribbean" (July 22, 2019 - July 26, 2019)
"Robert Hodgson of the Mosquito Shore: Mapping a Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Imperial Life" (June, 2019)
Previous Teaching Appointments
Chair, Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College (2019-2021)
Professor, Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College (2017-2021)
Associate Professor, Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College (2015-2017)
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Oklahoma (2006-2015)
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Oklahoma (2000-2006)