Education:

Research:

"Carrying the Burden: Negotiating Ethnicity, Identity, and Power among the Tamangs and Sherpas of Nepal"

My research is motivated by my interests in globalization, modernity, ethnicity, late-capitalism, adventure, and high-mountain regions. I am exploring issues of identity and power among Sherpas and Tamangs in the context of Himalayan mountaineering in Nepal.  I am also very interested in how societies and cultures interact through time, and how individuals negotiate issues of power in different socio-historical contexts.

During the summer of 2006, I spent ten weeks in Kathmandu, Nepal conducting preliminary research for my thesis. I worked with various Sherpa and Tamang people involved in the global mountaineering and trekking industry to explore how individuals construct ethnic identity and negotiate power in local and global contexts. This research was conducted with the advice and guidance of Professors Sherry Ortner and Nancy Levine. An abstract of the manuscript can be viewed here. Please contact me via email if you would like to read the full thesis.

Through Fall 2007, I participated in a research project with Megan Mulet on the "gift economy" at the Burning Man festival. Under her auspices, we explored how "virgins" - individuals participating for their first time at Burning Man - experienced "transformations" at the festival. Why do some individuals describe their experiences as "life changing?" Why are some more transformed (or willing to be transformed) than others, and what is the extent of their transformation?

Other Academic Interests:

Besides my anthropological pursuits, I am also an avid student of philosophy.  More specifically, I am attracted to exploring questions in the philosophy of science and epistemology:  What is knowledge?  How are scientific theories generated? What are appropriate models for explaining complex human social behavior and experiences such as "power," "identity," "domination," and "resistance?"

And finally, when not in the ever-critical throes of strict academia, I cannot help but be enthralled with the vast lands that lies beyond the ocean of science: art, literature, poetry, music, photography, and other stranger landscapes of the mind.