Dr. Karen E. Zoppa

Title: Contract Instructor
Phone: 204-786-9143
Office: 2W05
Email: k.zoppa@uwinnipeg.ca

Biography:

Karen Zoppa graduated with her M.A. in religion with the first cohort of the newly created University of Winnipeg/University of Manitoba Joint Masters Program in Religion in 1986, writing her dissertation on mythopoeism and imagination in J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy. 

Next, a B.Ed in English and History has allowed a rich teaching career at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate. 

In 2018, she graduated with her Ph.D. from the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba, and teaches dual credit courses for the departments of Philosophy and Religion and Culture in addition to her Collegiate assignment. 

Her research focuses on critical theory of religion; mysticism; and the figure of religion in the discourses of Simone de Beauvoir and Jacques Derrida.  She is a member of the Steering Committee of the International Simone de Beauvoir Society.

Courses:

• Exploring Religion: The World's Religions (REL-1002)

Research Interests:
Critical Theory of Religion; Mysticism; Simone de Beauvoir and Existentialism; Post-modern Philosophy.

Publications:

Zoppa, Karen Elizabeth.  “Force of Law:  Resources in Derrida for Rethinking Policing.” Discourses in Crises and the Study of Religion.  Ed. Lauren H. Griffin.  Sheffield:  Equinox Publishing, 2025.

_ _ _ Playing the Scene of Religion: Beauvoir and Faith.  Sheffield, U.K.: Equinox Publishing, 2021.

Shorlisted for the 2022 American Academy of Religion Book Awards.