Research Interests
The politics of language and exchange, the social construction of age and childhood, the role of deception in social life, and variation in understandings of truth and knowledge across cultures and contexts.
Research Projects
Current
A sociolinguistic analysis of age variation in respect to how people in the Marshall Islands get out of giving. I argue that children and adults use language very differently. Adults tend to use deception and indirection to avoid giving. Children, in contrast, are often quite direct. Consequently, adults use children to do things that they cannot and say things that would be inappropriate for adults, making children central to economic and political life. This project reveals the importance of studying age variation and challenges current understandings of socialization.
Past
A study of outreach practices among Chabad-Lubavitch emmisaries in Great Britain.
A study of how K’iche’ Maya children act as mediators of adult social relationships in Guatemala.
Teaching Projects
Current
I am currently teaching Introduction to Anthropology and Intercultural Communication. I will be teaching Anthropology of Childhood in the spring.
Past
No past projects.