About Me
I am an interdisciplinary sociologist who explores different forms of collective action for - and cultural mediums supporting - social justice. My scholarship and praxis are guided by wonder and a belief in the radical power of love as a transformative force.
Research & Public Scholarship
With degrees in international development (A.B., Brown University), diplomacy (M.A., University of Kentucky), and sociology (A.M. & Ph.D., Brown University), as well as experience as a practitioner with government agencies and non-profit NGOs in the USA and India, I have developed and probed various questions that require expertise in four broad areas – global and transnational social movements; anti-racist collective action; state-civil society collaboration and conflict; and cultural political sociology.
Empirically my research has focused on two primary areas: 1) ethno-racial justice efforts, especially those related to Black liberation, and 2) global and transnational social movements, especially the efforts of marginalized groups that participate in movements. I primarily use a qualitative, inductive methodology that employs ethnography, interviews, and focus group discussions.
However, I am a Du Boisian sociologist. During the 2018 convening of The Du Boisian Scholar Network, José Itzigsohn cracked one of his wry grins and chuckled, “It’s like Du Boisian sociology is the closest you can get to Marx’s communism. You can be a statistician in the morning, an ethnographer in the afternoon, and a historian in the evening.” Thus, I endeavor to learn a variety of methods to help answer the questions that intrigue my sociological imagination.
Teaching & Community Engagement
I seek to foster a safe environment for all my students to learn deeply, that is, develop the ability to analyze and evaluate complex ideas as they create their own arguments, paradigms, and approaches. As a co-learner with my students, I create engaging assignments (inside and outside of the classroom) and activities that facilitate the development of skills that go beyond their current discipline and the walls of the Academy by connecting knowledge, experience, and community engagement. I interweave these efforts with encouragement for students to pursue independent exploration and develop a broad understanding of what constitutes knowledge from diverse epistemologies.