Research Interests: Cultural criminology, masculinity, identity, justice studies, intersectional race and gender studies, anthropology of emotions, ethnography of prison, critical social theory
I am a born and raised Tucsonan. I am an alumna of the University of Arizona three times over (BA, MA, PhD) with a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology. I see my scholarly work and public service as inseparable. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Memphis, an active member of the Prison Reentry Taskforce for the social justice organization MICAH, and a founding board member of The History Underground. I have previously served as board president for the social services agency Old Pueblo Community Services in Tucson, AZ.
My daughter Sybil was born in 2018 and most recently learned how to slam the door while yelling, "I need a break from you, mama!," so I am learning that parenting is one of the most humbling undertaking of a lifetime. She, my husband Gabriel, and I are learning the intricate history, present, and future of our new home, Memphis.
I am a born and raised Tucsonan. I am an alumna of the University of Arizona three times over (BA, MA, PhD) with a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology. I see my scholarly work and public service as inseparable. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Memphis, an active member of the Prison Reentry Taskforce for the social justice organization MICAH, and a founding board member of The History Underground. I have previously served as board president for the social services agency Old Pueblo Community Services in Tucson, AZ.
My daughter Sybil was born in 2018 and most recently learned how to slam the door while yelling, "I need a break from you, mama!," so I am learning that parenting is one of the most humbling undertaking of a lifetime. She, my husband Gabriel, and I are learning the intricate history, present, and future of our new home, Memphis.
Academic Trajectory and Praxis
Since 2015, across multiple research and teaching projects, I interrogate the lived experiences and lasting impacts of the American carceral system on the humans within and betwixt its walls. I am interested in understanding how incarcerated individuals creatively express their identities and maintain a sense of selfhood while living under hyper-restrictive conditions, with a particular interest in how men navigate and resist dominant modes of masculine identity in the prison space. I theorize masculinities in the plural, in order to understand the inherent emergence of self identity, and to center dignity and possibility of incarcerated peoples in my images, writing, and action.
My current research project is a visual ethnography titled "In pursuit of the 'Good Man': An ethnographic examination of complex masculinities after release from prison." This project combines photo elicitation and a participatory photovoice methodologies to explore the psychosocial effects of masculine identity on recidivism rates for men being released from prison in Memphis, TN. This project will result in policy recommendations, a public photography exhibit, and scholarly writing.
I am still publishing work and conducting interviews regarding my dissertation project on the experiences of labor for incarcerated wildland firefighters in Arizona. For this project I conducted 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork examining the meanings of skilled labor for incarcerated men. I utilized a multimodal approach, with photography being a central component to my ethnographic technique. I found that participating in this program was an experiential paradox. Incarcerated wildland firefighters are offered little pay for risky work, and have very limited chances of continuing this career on the outside. Yet simultaneously, the daily work of firefighting is very meaningful and in some cases transformative for those who participate. These meaningful experiences allow individuals to participate in dignity-affirming identity work, and thus offers a resistance to the social death of incarceration. One way this occurs is through the expression of inclusive masculinities on the fire crew, which defies the violence of the modern prison experience.
Across my career I have designed and implemented individual ethnographic research projects at the University of Arizona and at the University of Memphis, and I have worked collaboratively within agencies like the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. I have taught several courses, ranging from a 160-person introductory course on race and the American dream, a 20 person undergraduate/graduate seminar on gender and social identity, and most recently, an undergraduate anthropology course at the University of Memphis called American Communities. This course, taught as part of the Inside Out Prison Education Program, was held each week alongside incarcerated scholars at the Shelby County Division of Corrections.
Since 2015, across multiple research and teaching projects, I interrogate the lived experiences and lasting impacts of the American carceral system on the humans within and betwixt its walls. I am interested in understanding how incarcerated individuals creatively express their identities and maintain a sense of selfhood while living under hyper-restrictive conditions, with a particular interest in how men navigate and resist dominant modes of masculine identity in the prison space. I theorize masculinities in the plural, in order to understand the inherent emergence of self identity, and to center dignity and possibility of incarcerated peoples in my images, writing, and action.
My current research project is a visual ethnography titled "In pursuit of the 'Good Man': An ethnographic examination of complex masculinities after release from prison." This project combines photo elicitation and a participatory photovoice methodologies to explore the psychosocial effects of masculine identity on recidivism rates for men being released from prison in Memphis, TN. This project will result in policy recommendations, a public photography exhibit, and scholarly writing.
I am still publishing work and conducting interviews regarding my dissertation project on the experiences of labor for incarcerated wildland firefighters in Arizona. For this project I conducted 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork examining the meanings of skilled labor for incarcerated men. I utilized a multimodal approach, with photography being a central component to my ethnographic technique. I found that participating in this program was an experiential paradox. Incarcerated wildland firefighters are offered little pay for risky work, and have very limited chances of continuing this career on the outside. Yet simultaneously, the daily work of firefighting is very meaningful and in some cases transformative for those who participate. These meaningful experiences allow individuals to participate in dignity-affirming identity work, and thus offers a resistance to the social death of incarceration. One way this occurs is through the expression of inclusive masculinities on the fire crew, which defies the violence of the modern prison experience.
Across my career I have designed and implemented individual ethnographic research projects at the University of Arizona and at the University of Memphis, and I have worked collaboratively within agencies like the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. I have taught several courses, ranging from a 160-person introductory course on race and the American dream, a 20 person undergraduate/graduate seminar on gender and social identity, and most recently, an undergraduate anthropology course at the University of Memphis called American Communities. This course, taught as part of the Inside Out Prison Education Program, was held each week alongside incarcerated scholars at the Shelby County Division of Corrections.