About

I am an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Ball State University. My teaching and research interests include:  refugees, migration, citizenship, welfare, race, ethnicity, gender, class, feminism, urban anthropology, applied anthropology, and political economy. My areas of interest include the United States, with a focus on the Midwest, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and South Sudan and their diasporas.

I arrived at Ball State through a myriad of geographic, intellectual, activist, and atavistic avenues. I grew up in a small town in southern Minnesota and earned my Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from Luther College. From 1998-2000, I  worked for Medica Infoteka, a local women’s NGO in Bosnia-Herzegovina, founded as a response to rape and other forms of violence against women during the 1992-95 war. Primarily, I worked for Infoteka, the team that networked with other NGOs and governmental institutions. While there, I coordinated research on the prevalence of violence and neglect against Romani (Gypsy) women. I returned to Bosnia in 2003 to conduct research for my (2004) Master’s thesis in anthropology on the status of Roma in post-war Bosnia.

After returning to the United States, I worked as a case manager with refugees for the Center for New Americans in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My job consisted of helping clients navigate the educational, healthcare, and welfare systems, and assistance with housing, childcare, and family disputes.

My approach to research, teaching, and mentoring has to do my roles as a life partner to an amazing man, a mother to a precocious 6-year-old and step-parent to three more great kids, my strong commitment to anti-racist feminism, and my membership and participation in multiple local, professional, and transnational communities, from my neighborhood association to transnational women’s organizations. I welcome collaboration in the teaching, research, and community-building.