My work as an anthropologist combines a commitment to social justice through collaborative research with a lasting interest in place and identity.
My research has explored the concept of place in a wide variety of venues. I have investigated place from an anthropological perspective, publishing multiple peer reviewed articles on the topics of place and its relationship to identity. I have collaborated since 2006 with Maxine Payne, a photographer, to communicate about place and change through the Rural Women and Globalization Project. We have documented the lives of older rural women using oral history and photography in five sites: San Luis, Costa Rica; Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora on the United States-Mexico border; Bagamoyo, Tanzania; Vinh Linh, Vietnam; and rural Arkansas. In reviews of our exhibits, critics have noted that it is the connection we have with these women, which comes as a result of our interviews and partnership, that makes the images and installation so compelling.
In other professional projects, I research borderlands and globalization, particularly the United States-Mexico border. From 2012-2015, I held the Cynthia Cook Sandefur Odyssey Professorship, which I used to conduct research on globalization and transnationalism, focusing on the connections between the United States and Mexico. I specialize in the anthropology of education and identity, and have performed applied research in high schools and middle schools along the border. In other work as an applied anthropologist, I aided efforts to propose two new National Heritage Areas in the U.S. Southwest, consulting with local stakeholders including local governments, tribal representatives, non-profit organizations, ranchers, and other residents. I have also conducted collaborative research with people who have been homeless and diagnosed with serious mental illness, paying particular attention to their success strategies when they have been able to maintain stable housing.
I served as the Associate Director for the Odyssey Program (our umbrella for engaged learning) from 2016-2019. I am currently conducting research with a psychology professor on Blue Zones and how sleep, attitudes toward work, and friendships impact longevity around the world, holding the Charles Prentiss Hough Odyssey Professorship from 2018-2021. On campus, I have facilitated campus-wide discussions on race, sexual assault, and immigration, and have conducted Safe Zones training for faculty and staff.