Anthropological Research Interests
I’m an environmental anthropologist with interests in the anthropology of water, the social lives of rivers, political ecology, immigration, and the co-production of land, watersheds, space, and place. I’m currently embarked on a multi-year dissertation project to understand how local people mobilize in defense of the Rio Grande/Bravo.
The guiding theme of this research is to investigate how the Rio Grande/Bravo is simultaneously a river of hope and a river of violence. To that end, I grapple with themes of environmental justice, ecological violence, Indigeneity, settler colonialism, social movements, migration, embodiment, contamination, and bordering—all of which find their way materially into the waters of the Rio Grande.
My research approach is participatory and action-oriented, meaning I learn while working with water protectors, NGOs, and humanitarian volunteers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. We strive together for healthy waters, humane borders, justice in the face of historical trauma, and futures predicated on principles of reciprocity, sovereignty, and long-term relations of trust and consent.
My first hope with all this is to contribute to a richer, deeper, and more textured understanding of this wonderful river, as well as the communities and cultures the river has brought into being. My second hope is to see you out on the river someday, enjoying the cool waters or the wind in the willows—or, better yet, fighting the good fight to decolonize the living Rio Grande/Bravo.
Household Water Insecurity Project
In 2018, I received a MA in Latin American and Border Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso. My master’s project examined household water insecurity and residents’ perceptions of decentralized water infrastructure in low-income communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In connection with this work, my thesis and subsequent publications examined the:
Causes and consequences of water insecurity in colonias on the U.S.-Mexico border through the lens of political ecology;
A potential pathway for improving situations wherein low-income households lack reliable access to water and sewer services, known as “the soft path to water”.
The lived experiences of water insecurity in colonias households, which I theorized as the household water insecurity nexus;
And the discourse around water projects at multiple scales, showing how colonias residents aspire for water access, mobilize for water access, and yet are continually excluded from such access.