ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural anthropology has remained a constant thread in my life since I was a teenager. My work at Cornell University and in the developing world continues to inform everything I write, think, and teach, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I was given and the generous people I met along the way.

EDUCATION

2007 – 2009       Anthropology Ph.D. candidate, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

2004 – 2007      Anthropology and Asian Studies M.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

1998 – 2002       Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology and Sociology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN; magna cum laude. Honors Thesis: “War Tourism: Memory and Authenticity in Vietnam.”

Sep – Dec 2000   Culture and Development Seminar: Vietnam, School for International Training, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Jan – Mar 2000   Carleton Francophone Studies Seminar in Mali, Bamako, Mali.

1995 – 1996       School Year Abroad, Rennes, France.

FIELD RESEARCH

Aug 08 - Jun 09   Preliminary doctoral research, Kathmandu, Nepal. Research orientation: Maoist historiography, conflict, memory.

May – Jul 2006   Preliminary doctoral research, Kathmandu, Nepal. Research orientation: production of knowledge/power politics within international development sector with specific focus on mental health services.

Jul – Aug 2005   Preliminary doctoral research, Kathmandu, Nepal. Research orientation: performances and spaces of cosmopolitanism, modernity, and masculinity.

Oct – Dec 2003   Field research, Kathmandu, Nepal. Conducted research on behalf of the Tibetan Refugee Curriculum Project. Research orientation: Tibetan education systems, cultural preservation movements, staged authenticity.

Jun – Aug 2001   Ethnographic field research, Vietnam, conducted under a Freeman Fellowship. Research orientation: war tourism, memory, violence, nostalgia.

Jun – Aug 2001   Ethnographic field research, Vietnam, conducted under a Freeman Fellowship. Research orientation: anthropology of disability, anthropology of the senses.

Sept – Dec 2000   Culture and Development Seminar in Vietnam, School for International Training, Vietnam.

Sept – Dec 2000   Ethnographic field research, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, conducted under SIT semester. Research orientation: underground markets, exchange relations, symbolic wealth.

Nov – Dec 2000   Ethnographic field research, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, conducted under SIT independent project. Research orientation: anthropology of development, production of knowledge/power within poverty alleviation programs for at-risk youth.

Jan – Mar 2000   Carleton Seminar in Mali.

Jan – Mar 2000   Ethnographic field research, Bamako, Mali, conducted under Carleton Seminar. Research orientation: traditional medicine markets, healing, and secrecy.

AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS:

 Apr 2011           Writer/Researcher on the Asia Society’s Homeland Afghanistan – Official Webby Award Honoree.

Oct 2008           Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, awarded for 2009 fieldwork in Nepal (declined)

May 2007          FLAS Fellowship, awarded for summer 2007.

Apr 2006           Einaudi Travel Grant, awarded for roundtrip airfare to Nepal for summer 2006 research.

Mar 2006          FLAS Fellowship, awarded for academic year 2006-2007 by the South Asia Program, Cornell University.

Apr 2005           Einaudi Travel Grant, awarded for roundtrip airfare to Nepal for summer 2005 research.

Apr 2005           Cornell Graduate School award to cover tuition costs of the Intensive Summer Nepali Program.

Apr 2005           Asian Studies Department award to cover remaining tuition costs of the Summer Nepali Program.

Mar 2005          FLAS Fellowship, awarded for academic year 2005-2006 by the South Asia Program, Cornell University.

Aug 2004          Sage Fellowship, Cornell University, awarded for two years of graduate study.

Jun 2002           Magna cum laude, Carleton College.

Jun 2002           Distinction in Major (Anthropology and Sociology), Carleton College.

May 2002         James S. Berglund Prize for Social Sciences, recipient, Carleton College

May 2002         Distinction, Senior Honors Thesis, Carleton College.

Jun 2001            Freeman Fellowship, awarded for ethnographic field research in Vietnam.

LANGUAGE STUDY:

French (advanced): high school 1992-1997; School Year Abroad, Rennes, France, 1995-6; Carleton Seminar in Mali, Jan – Mar 2000.

Nepali (advanced): Nepali 101- 302, Cornell University, 2004-07; Intensive Summer Nepali, Cornell University, Jun – Jul 2005 and Jun – Jul 2007 ; private lessons in Kathmandu Jan – May 2003.

Vietnamese (beginning): Beginner Vietnamese, National University of Social Sciences, Vietnam, Sept – Dec 2000; Intermediate Vietnamese, National University of Social Sciences, Vietnam, Jun – Aug 2001.

Bamanankan/Bambara (beginning): Carleton Seminar in Mali, Jan-Mar 2000.