- Contact
- Academic History
Ph.D. Sociocultural Anthropology, University of California, San Diego 2005
M.A. Sociocultural Anthropology, University of California, San Diego 1996
A.B. Psychology, Minor in French Language and Literature, Occidental College 1991
- Scholarly Interests/Activities
- My research focuses on gender and the Caribbean. Specifically, I have conducted research on the social support networks of West Indian female household heads, informal rotating savings associations, the media's effect on youth, village gossip as a means of social control, antagonism between the sexes, and changing policies and practices around the use of corporal punishment by Dominican parents.
- Service Interests/Activities
Accompanied seven Washburn undergraduates on a one-week educational trip to Prague, Czech Republic. May 2011.
Accompanied 19 Washburn undergraduates on a one-week educational trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland. May 2010.
Faculty Senate Member. 2010-2012
Faculty Affairs Committee Member. 2011-2012
Program Chair for the Association for Feminist Anthropology. 2009-2011
Faculty Advisor to the Sociology/Anthropology Club. 2008-2009, 2010-2012
Institutional Review Board Member, 2011-2012
Oral Presentation Committee Member, Apeiron 2008-2011
Chair, Oral Presentation Committee, Apeiron 2011-2012
- Career Accomplishments
Conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Dominica West Indies for 13 months in 2001-2002 and for one-month periods in 2008 and 2011.
I have presented my academic work at numerous national and international meetings including annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association, the Caribbean Studies Association, and the Society for Caribbean Studies. Recent presentations include:
- Invited Talk: "Ten Years of Fieldwork in Dominica, West Indies: Understanding Single Mothers, Parenting Norms, and the Uses of Corporal Punishment." Presented as part of the Brown Bag International Lecture Series, Washburn University, Feb 22, 2012.
- "The Amount of Blows We Get Never Kills Us." Presented at the 36th annual Caribbean Studies Association Conference, Curacao, West Indies, May 30-June 3, 2011.
- "Gossip, Sex and Single Mothers in Dominica, West Indies." Presented at the 108th annual American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA, Dec 2-6, 2009.
Publications Include:
2010. "The Metaphorical Prison: Gossip, Sex, and Single Mothers in Dominica." Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. Vol 13, 62-86.
Book Review of, "Sex Work and the City: The Social Geography of Health and Safety in Tijuana, Mexico," by Yasmina Kastsulis, Association for Feminist Anthropology Book Review.
Invited manuscript reviewer for the American Anthropologist, Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, and Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power.
Awarded an IIE Fulbright Student Grant to conduct dissertation research in Dominica. Awarded multiple Washburn University Faculty International Travel Grants to support travel to the West Indies for conference presentations.
