About
I am a Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Michigan. I earned an M.S. in Environmental Policy at the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability, and a B.A. in Chinese from Middlebury College.
I am interested in the complex entanglements of food, health, race, and species.
Why do people consider some animals to be edible, while others are disgusting or taboo? In pursuit of questions like these, my work investigates how ideas about cultural identity, geopolitics, and the environment are reflected through our food systems.
My dissertation research examines food consumption and racial tensions in Nairobi, Kenya, within the context of China-Africa relations. I examine how Chinese food consumption patterns both fuel and reflect larger issues of diplomacy and identity. Other projects include a study of the cultural and economic underpinnings of the goat meat industry in my home state of Vermont.
