Chrys Ingraham


Chrys Ingraham was Professor of Sociology at Purchase College of the State University of New York.

Biography

Dr. Ingraham was a native of New York State where she worked for 12 years at US Air and co-owned a feminist bookstore before returning to school at Onondaga Community College. She transferred to Syracuse University's Maxwell School where she graduated with a Masters in Public Administration, Graduate Certification in Women's Studies and a PhD in sociology. Her dissertation research addressed how the Comstock Law allowed for the censorship and suppression of feminist thought in the 19th century US. She has taught at a variety of colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Ithaca College, Skidmore College, Smith College, Sage College, SUNY Albany, and was professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Purchase. She was diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer, and treatment began in 2020, but she died in 2024.

Career

Ingraham served as visiting professor at Ithaca College prior to receiving tenure and promotion to full professor at Russell Sage College, where she directed the Helen M Upton Center for Women's Studies and co-founded the Allies Center for the Study of Difference and Conflict. She later co-founded their Management and Social Responsibility program. In 2007, she moved to SUNY Purchase to rebuild the Sociology program and later assisted in the creation of a Latin American studies major. Ingraham served as professor of sociology at Purchase College.
Ingraham was a guest speaker for the film Wedding Advice by Karen Sosnoski and Fred Zeytoojian, 2002. Ingraham co-ran an 'in conversation' series with Debbie Hedberg at her YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/FreebirdSpirit. Their 30+ conversations are titled "Love is the Wisdom behind Awakening" and focus on current issues and psychic medium contributions.

Publications

Books (written, edited, or co-edited)

  • 1997 Materialist Feminism: A Reader in Class, Difference, and Women's Lives, ed. by Chrys Ingraham and Rosemary Hennessy, Routledge, 1997. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 347 libraries.
  • 1999 White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture, 1st edition, Routledge, 1999
  • 2008 White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture, 2nd edition, Routledge, 2008.
  • 2024 White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture, 3rd edition, Routledge, 2024. According to WorldCat, the editions of this book are held in 820 libraries.
  • 2005 Thinking Straight: The Power, the Promise, and the Paradox of Heterosexuality, ed.by Chrys Ingraham. Routledge, 2005.. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 1116 libraries.

Book chapters

Academic journal articles

Encyclopedia entries

  • "Weddings", in Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, edited by Cherie Kramarae and Dale Spender, London: Sage, 2000
  • "Heterosexual Imaginary", with Casey Saunders, in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, edited by Nancy Naples. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015