North Dakota State University

Faculty Member, Sociology and Anthropology

Other Affiliations: Stanford University, Anthropology

Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology

About

Overall, my research examines the transnational mobilization of heritage within political and economic projects near and dear to the international community, multinational lenders, and western governments’ policy-making abroad. My doctoral research focused on international heritage projects in North Africa. Multi-sited ethnographic research from 2004-2009 in pre-revolution Tunisia, Morocco, and the major international organizations involved in heritage management (UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, the World Bank) led me to democratization, human rights, economic development, and global governance as prime movers in transnational heritage work. This research comprises my manuscript currently under revision, titled "Mobilizing Heritage: Development and Democratization in the Maghrib."

My present work builds on my doctoral research, seeking further answers to questions raised regarding transnational heritage, democracy, and heritage development. Extending my research from North Africa to southern Spain, I'm collaborating with colleagues on a project in the Andalusia region of Spain. My contribution will include an ethnographic understanding of how the rich and diverse pasts of Spain contribute to experiences of democracy, citizenship, and multiculturalism.

I'm pursuing future research in Norway, which will further elaborate on the phenomenon of transnational heritage through the lens of four developments: Arctic heritage in the face of climate change, the eroding ‘common heritage of mankind’ principle in international law, immigrant heritage (from Norway to the US northern Plains), and the transnational World Heritage site of the Struve Geodetic Arc.

Finally, at NDSU I'm building a research program on local heritage food, exploring heritage as a kind of branding,  e.g. within ‘slow food’ and ‘good food’ movements, and how ‘traditional’ models of cultivation and food preparation are seen to encourage environmental and social sustainability.

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