I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University. Previously I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Colby College. I received my PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, where I was a Graduate Fellow in the Urban Ethnography Lab. My main areas of interest are political sociology, social movements, urban sociology, social inequality, and qualitative methods. I have done research on the experiences of grassroots organizers in both the United States and Latin America.

My first book, Proletarian Lives. Routines, Identity and Culture in Contentious Politics, explores the ways in which people become activists. Based on life history interviews with current and former participants in the Unemployed Workers’ Movement in Argentina, as well as participant observation of the daily routines in their organizations, I seek to understand why some people sustain their involvement, while others in a similar situation leave. My findings suggest the need for a more nuanced and complex theory of political participation, one that focuses not only on the worldviews of activists but also on their practices, paying attention to their experiences inside and outside the movement, and incorporating insights from other areas of sociology.

Findings from my research in Argentina have been published in articles at the Latin American Research Review, Mobilization, Qualitative Sociology, Sociedad, Conflicto Social, Argumentos, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Latin American Perspectives, and Entramados y Perspectivas.

I have also conducted research on the lives and struggles of undocumented students in the United States. Insights from that work have been published in the book Invisible in Austin (University of Texas Press), coauthored with other members of the Urban Ethnography Lab at UT.

My research has been supported by various scholarships and awards from the University of Texas, as well as a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation. I have also received awards from different sections of the American Sociological Association and the Latin American Studies Association.