I’m very excited to be a part of OSEH as a (virtual) visiting doctoral researcher for the Spring 2021 semester. I’ll be participating in department events and working under the supervision of Dr. Ursula Münster with the help of a Doctoral Research Support Grant offered by my home institution.
Currently, I am a PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences and Policy at Central European University in Austria. Trained as a cultural anthropologist during my MA at San Diego State University, I also have a broad background in the humanities, with a BA in Anthropology and Art History and a minor in Classics from George Mason University. In addition to my previous experience in archaeological collections management, I have also worked on several grassroots projects related to sustainable agriculture and beekeeping in Mexico, Germany, and the United States.
My dissertation, provisionally titled “Communing with Others:
Multispecies Entanglements in Mexican Ecovillages”, focuses on the emergent ecovillage movement in Mexico, exploring how people imagine, construct, and inhabit intentional, ecologically-oriented communities. Taking a multispecies ethnographic approach, I understand these communities as assemblages of both human and nonhuman residents. In particular, I am interested in how these emergent social relationships influence the ways that each community engages with alternative agriculture practices, including permaculture, agroecology, and biodynamic agriculture.
I very much look forward to engaging with OSEH students and professors in the Welcome to the Anthropocene lecture series, lunchtime discussions, and research collaboratories this semester!