Strier, Karen B. 1959-

PERSONAL:

Born May 22, 1959, in Summit, NJ; daughter of Murray Paul (a chemist) and Arlene (an accountant) Strier. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Swarthmore College, B.A., 1980; Harvard University, M.A., 1981, Ph.D., 1986.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Anthropology, 5240 Social Sciences Bldg., University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1180 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706-1320.

CAREER:

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, lecturer in anthropology, 1986-87; Beloit College, Beloit, WI, assistant professor of anthropology, 1987-89; University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, assistant professor, 1989-92, associate professor, 1992-95, professor of anthropology, 1995—.

MEMBER:

International Primatological Society, American Anthropological Association, American Association of Physical Anthropologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Animal Behaviour Society, Latin American Primatological Society, Sociedade Brasileira de Primatologia, Sigma Xi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright fellow, 1983-84; presidential young investigator award, National Science Foundation, 1989-94; award from National Academy of Sciences, 2005; honorary degree, University of Chicago, 2006.

WRITINGS:

Faces in the Forest: The Endangered Muriqui Monkeys of Brazil, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1992, published with new preface, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

(With Jack P. Hailman) Planning, Proposing, and Presenting Science Effectively: A Guide for Graduate Students and Researchers In the Behavioral Sciences and Biology, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1997, 2nd edition, 2006.

Primate Behavioral Ecology, Allyn & Bacon (Newton, MA), 2000, 3rd edition, 2007.

Contributor to scientific journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Karen B. Strier once told CA: "Before Faces in the Forest: The Endangered Muriqui Monkeys of Brazil, I had spent years writing technical articles about muriqui monkeys for scientific journals and translating the substance of these articles into anecdotal stories to capture my students' attention. Faces in the Forest was an opportunity for me to write these more engaging stories down, to share them with a wider audience of naturalists and especially students interested in primate behavior and conservation. I intentionally excluded from the book all of the data upon which my studies are based, because I didn't want them to distract the readers from the tale of what it has been like to discover the way of life of another species. That the muriquis' way of life is threatened by habitat destruction in the Brazilian Atlantic forest made the telling of their story even more purposeful than my own. I provided references to the original articles where the quantitative data can be found, but it was for the non-scholars, the scholars to be, and the monkeys themselves that I wrote this book.

"It took me months to find my voice in these stories, and to select the stories that might translate words into furry, living animals. I often outlined sections concisely, just as I would in a more technical article, and then tried to talk them through on paper. The enchanted faces of many classes of students often occurred to me during this process; the enchanting faces of the monkeys I've known as individuals for so many years were always present. I kept my book writing physically separate from other writing and professional activities, working on it only at my home computer. This physical separation was entirely consistent with what my field work involves, and consequently it helped me to remember the sensations and experiences I sought to portray. Because it is a narrative history, the book came close to writing itself, and whenever the muses began to fail me, I tried to remember what really happened next.

"I always knew that I would end the book with another beginning; the continuity of the research left me no alternative. But it was a genuine passion for the animals, and their precarious future, that sustained the writing."