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Biography
My work
examines the cultural transformation of the American welfare state and the
effects of this transformation on the politics of citizenship, belonging and
race within redeveloping cities. Through my ethnographic research, I focus on
how large-scale changes in the urban built environment shape the ways in which
urbanites come to understand social difference, and practice new forms of
social care, concern and intimacy. In particular, I am interested in how the
sensory and affective qualities of everyday urban life cultivate personal attachments
to a place, as well as compel private commitments to the people associated with
that place. My doctoral research investigated Chicago's ongoing public housing
reforms as a policy experiment that conjoins the palpability of past and
impending state failures to provide for citizenry well-being with the
potentials of "post welfare" forms of social belonging. My research plans
include continued work on this project, as well as research on the ethics of
"green" urbanism and sustainable urban redevelopment movements in the
United States.
Publications:
[/forthcoming/] " 'Project Heat' and Sensory Politics in
Redeveloping
Chicago Public Housing,"/Ethnography/.
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