CV

Areas of Interest: Energy, International Water Conflicts, Latin America, Sustainable Development, Environment, Cuisine and Culture

EDUCATION

Ph.D.     The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Anthropology, 2012.

Thesis: The Flows of Sovereignty: Itaipú Hydroelectric Dam and the Ethnography of the Paraguayan Nation-State

B.A.      Harvard College. History, 1998. Graduated with honors.

PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles (Peer-reviewed)

2010      Stimulating Consumption: Yerba Mate Myths, Markets, and Meanings from Conquest to Present. Comparative Studies in Society and History 52:1, 6-36.

2008      Fine Dining: Race in Pre-Revolution Cuban Cookbooks. Latin American Research Review 43:2, 205-223. 

Book Reviews
Forthcoming 
              "Seeing and the State in Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba." A review of "The Optic of the State: Visuality and Power in Argentina and Brazil" by Jens Andermann and "Hidden Powers of State in the Cuban Imagination" by Kenneth Routon. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.

2008      Review of “The Curse of Nemur. In Search of the Art, Myth, and Ritual of the Ishir.” by Ticio Escobar. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 13:1, 225-228.

Other Publications

2010      An Intimate Chat with The Figurine’s Kunle Afolayan and Ramsey Noah. MTV Iggy.

2010      Review of “The Figurine.” MTV Iggy.

2001      Cinderella Redux: Seeking True Beauty with Latin America’s Most Popular Soap Opera. Regeneration Quarterly (April).

GRANTS/AWARDS

2012      Presidential Management Fellowship
2010      Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship

2008      IIE Fulbright Dissertation Research Grant

2008      Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

2007      Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (intensive Guaraní), Summer

2004-08 CUNY Chancellor’s Fellowship

PRESENTATIONS

Conference Papers

2011      Managing Expectations: Spectacles of Corruption, Rituals of Patronage. Presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Montreal, November 15 – 20.

2011      Journeys of Empire: the Robertson brothers’ Letters on Paraguay. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle, April 12 – 16.

2010      Paraguayan Nation-State Making: The Power Plays of Recovering Hydroelectric Sovereignty. Paper presented at 109th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological    Association, New Orleans, November 17 – 21.

2010      The Stakes of a City: Ciudad del Este as Competing Territorial Strategies. Paper

presented at XXIX International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Toronto, Canada, October 6 – 9.

2009      Tentaciones Hidroeléctricas y los Juegos del Poder: Interpretando el Estado Paraguayo en el Marco de Itaipú, como Frontera Binacional. Paper presented at VIII Reunión de Antropología del Mercosur, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 28 – October 2.

2008      Stimulating Consumption: Myth, Market, and Meaning in Yerba Mate. Paper  presented at Works in Progress in Latin American Society and History, New  York University, New York, March 31.

2007      Fine Dining: Race in Pre-Revolution Cuban Cookbooks. Paper presented at Rethinking Boundaries: Transformations in Methods and Approaches to Atlantic History, New York University, New York, February.

Other Presentations

2011      Stakes of a Triple Frontier City: the Untold History of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. The New York Public Library’s Research Study Rooms’ public lectures on History. New York. January 21.

2009      Radio interview with Democráticamente Online. Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. July 28.

2009      Itaipú: The Power to Redefine Paraguay. Presentation to Emory Executive MBA International Trip Module. Asunción, Paraguay. April 18.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Anthropological Association, Member

American Friends of ZanaAfrica, Chairwoman 

Association of American Geographers, Member

Latin American Studies Association, Member

New York Public Library, Wertheim Study, Writer in Residence 2010