Biography
I am a broadly-trained anthropologist with primary research interests in semiotic anthropology, material culture and archaeology, racial, ethnic, and linguistic identity. I have secondary research interests in kinship, demography, philosophy, and history. My research program can be described as the semiotics of material culture and of cultural identities. Most of my fieldwork has been conducted in Ireland, in Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) communities, and more recently I have begun research in Central America. My ongoing research is an investigation of the phenomenological, temporal, and semiotic manifestations of material objects from the past in the present, focusing specifically on artefacts. Related to this, I have been consulting on a project on the semiotic aspects of ‘vintage fashion’. Through courses I have taught at Denison, I have also been able to research migrant identities in soccer. I teach courses on semiotic anthropology, social theory (classical and contemporary), race and ethnicity, anthropology of soccer, as well as courses in International Studies. I also teach our introductory course as well as our senior seminar.
Degree(s)
A.B., Cornell University; M.A., Georgetown University; M.A., University of Michigan; M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University