About + CV
Scholarship
I am a lecturer in Liberal Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I teach courses on performance studies, art and anthropology, ethnographic methods, and social movements. Previously I was Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Library Company of Philadelphia. I hold a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate certificate from the Center for Experimental Ethnography.My scholarly research examines the connections between creative performance practice and social justice struggles. My current book project, Beyond Time: Experiments in Performance and Abolition, is a multimodal ethnography tracing the connections between abolitionist organizing in Philadelphia and Black performing arts traditions. Across three case studies, I reveal how efforts to dismantle the carceral state and reimagine urban life through principles of human dignity and care are entwined with Philadelphia’s rich legacy of Black experimental music and dance.
As an ethnographer, I use multimodal and experimental arts to build reparative and collaborative knowledge with my community. In addition to academic publication, I create experimental films, zines, participatory installations, audio documentaries, and other multimodal forms that advocate for justice and enact what Steven Feld calls a “politics of amplification” across differences in identity and privilege.
Recent Publications
“We Keep Us Safe: De-escalation, Working Time, and Abolitionist Praxis at The Sanctuary.” Cultural Anthropology. Forthcoming Nov. 2026.Working Time, The Video Journal of Education. Forthcoming 2026.
Healed By the Beat: Milford Graves and Jean-Daniel Lafontant in Conversation. Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal, ed. Mark Christman, Celeste DiNucci, and Anthony Elms. Inventory Press. 2022.
How the Possession of Human Remains Led to A Public Reckoning at the Penn Museum, co-written with Kinjal Dave. Hyperallergic. October 2021.
Recent Programming
Organizer. Heritage and Presence, 2022-23 symposium for the Wolf Humanities Center at the University of Pennsylvania. February 24th 2023.Moderator. Philadelphia Zig Zag: New Jazz Legacies. Performances by Farid Barron All Stars and Hudson River. Presented by the Wolf Humanities Center, Harold Prince Theater at the University of Pennsylvania. September 28th 2022.