About Me

I am an assistant professor in the Department of American Studies and adjunct assistant professor in the Environment, Ecology and Energy Program (E3P) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I earned a dual PhD in anthropology and folklore studies from Indiana University as well as MAs in each discipline. Broadly, I study how humans respond to environmental change through their cultural expressions. My primary research focuses on Tlingit and Haida art in Southeast Alaska that uses red and yellow cedar trees, focusing on how artists—bark harvesters and weavers specifically—navigate ecological and economic changes through their creative forms. I served as a Visiting Scholar with the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau from June–July 2021 and October 2021–March 2022 before conducting my primary fieldwork on Prince of Wales Island during March–July 2022, April–June 2023, and May 2024.