Biography

While an undergraduate at Lee University, I was introduced to anthropology as a powerful tool of insight and understanding. During my M.Sc. in Social Anthropology at the University College London, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork among Pentecostal Christians in Appalachia who practice a century-old tradition of handling venomous snakes in the context of worship. During my research, a death in the serpent-handling community captured public interest leading to the community’s engagement with journalists who often framed the community as 'backwards' or 'crazy.' I watched as the church community tried to counter the public narrative surrounding their religious practice. My experiences teaching anthropology at Western Wyoming Community College and at Lee University has only further reinforced my belief that understanding human differences and similarities is invaluable in breaking down barriers of fear and prejudice. Having worked in refugee and migrant communities in India, Egypt and Tennessee, I have seen how fear of differences can ostracize the imaginary ‘other.’ During my Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Cambridge, my research has focused on the ethnographic study of values and the role of hope in motivating action among asylum seekers waiting on asylum procedures in the Aegean. It is by focusing on the values of hope and of an ideal 'good life' that some insight might be gained which situates refugees not as political nor as suffering strangers, but as morally evaluative humans distinctly and deeply informed by their unique cultural experiences.

Previous Education

Lee University
University College London