I'm an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, jointly appointed in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and the Program in the Environment. I'm also an associate of UM's African Studies Center; core faculty in UM's Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Program; and a co-convener of the Political Ecology Workshop (PEW).
I'm a political ecologist and critical human geographer interested in environmental governance, resource politics, and rural development in Africa. I hold a PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from UC Berkeley. My research is centrally concerned with exploitation, by which I mean both the ways in which rural smallholders and communities manage, extract, and use natural resources for purposes of livelihood generation and social reproduction, as well as how various actors extract value from rural laborers through processes of expropriation and accumulation. I investigate these dynamics in resource frontier settings—“marginal” spaces often viewed and treated as peripheral, but arguably where the character and consequences of contemporary late capitalism are most apparent, alongside possibilities of resistance and ways of being otherwise.
My recent work examines local-level governance institutions in Madagascar’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector; the production of “mineral commons;” the role of “indigenous” or “customary” institutions like Malagasy dina (codes) in situated contests over resource access and authority; and the rise of “flexible extraction” and mobile subjectivities across northern Madagascar’s resource frontiers.
I've published in scholarly outlets including the Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Rural Studies, Political Geography, and Geoforum, as well as in edited volumes, online magazines, and policy fora. I'm currently working on a book manuscript (Everyday Exploitation: Extraction and Accumulation in the Mines of Madagascar) that investigates strategies of livelihood production, wealth accumulation, and capitalist expansion in Madagascar’s goldfields.
Other topics of my ongoing and future research include extractive industries and the green transition; conservation and "alternative livelihood" projects; the political-economic and socio-cultural dimensions of Chinese investment and rural infrastructure projects in Africa; and collaborations focused on artisanal miners' socio-political worlds and on commons, commoning, and social change.
At the center of my work is a commitment to producing policy-relevant research informed by interdisciplinary analysis aimed at achieving more equitable and sustainable outcomes for smallholder resource extractors and rural communities—in Madagascar, and across the globe.
Prior to entering academia, I worked at a range of organizations in Washington, DC focused on international development and environmental policy. I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar from 2010-2012, and earned a B.A. in political science and international peace studies from the University of Notre Dame in 2008.
I was born and raised in Hawai‘i—and try to get back as frequently as possible.
I'm a political ecologist and critical human geographer interested in environmental governance, resource politics, and rural development in Africa. I hold a PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from UC Berkeley. My research is centrally concerned with exploitation, by which I mean both the ways in which rural smallholders and communities manage, extract, and use natural resources for purposes of livelihood generation and social reproduction, as well as how various actors extract value from rural laborers through processes of expropriation and accumulation. I investigate these dynamics in resource frontier settings—“marginal” spaces often viewed and treated as peripheral, but arguably where the character and consequences of contemporary late capitalism are most apparent, alongside possibilities of resistance and ways of being otherwise.
My recent work examines local-level governance institutions in Madagascar’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector; the production of “mineral commons;” the role of “indigenous” or “customary” institutions like Malagasy dina (codes) in situated contests over resource access and authority; and the rise of “flexible extraction” and mobile subjectivities across northern Madagascar’s resource frontiers.
I've published in scholarly outlets including the Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Rural Studies, Political Geography, and Geoforum, as well as in edited volumes, online magazines, and policy fora. I'm currently working on a book manuscript (Everyday Exploitation: Extraction and Accumulation in the Mines of Madagascar) that investigates strategies of livelihood production, wealth accumulation, and capitalist expansion in Madagascar’s goldfields.
Other topics of my ongoing and future research include extractive industries and the green transition; conservation and "alternative livelihood" projects; the political-economic and socio-cultural dimensions of Chinese investment and rural infrastructure projects in Africa; and collaborations focused on artisanal miners' socio-political worlds and on commons, commoning, and social change.
At the center of my work is a commitment to producing policy-relevant research informed by interdisciplinary analysis aimed at achieving more equitable and sustainable outcomes for smallholder resource extractors and rural communities—in Madagascar, and across the globe.
Prior to entering academia, I worked at a range of organizations in Washington, DC focused on international development and environmental policy. I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar from 2010-2012, and earned a B.A. in political science and international peace studies from the University of Notre Dame in 2008.
I was born and raised in Hawai‘i—and try to get back as frequently as possible.