Scholarship and Biography

My interests lie in mining, value, finance, and materiality, with special focus on Mexico, Colombia, and the U.S.. I am currently writing a book on gold as a physical substance in mining and finance. At Brandeis, I teach courses in economic anthropology, power and violence, Latin American ethnography, media in Latin America, contemporary theory, the anthropology of food, and the work of Michel-Rolph Trouillot.

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Honors

Visiting Fellow (non-stipend)
The Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (University of San Diego), 2024-2025
Kate Browne Creativity in Research Award for La Batea [finalist] (with Stephen Ferry)
Society for Economic Anthropology, 05/2023
LACLS Race, Ethnicity and Migration Grant (with Patricia Alvarez Astacio and Greg Childs)
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2022-2023
Mandel Center Public Humanities Grant
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2022
Fellowship (with Greg Childs)
Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, 2022
First Place, Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing (for La Batea, with Stephen Ferry)
Society for Humanistic Anthropology, 2019
Journal of Anthropological Research Distinguished Lecture, November 9, 2017
University of New Mexico (United States, Albuquerque) - UNM, 2017
Mandel Faculty Research Grant
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2015
Davis Teaching and Learning Fellow, Center for Teaching and Learning
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2014 - 2015
Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer '69 and Joseph Neubauer Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2010
Newhouse Center for the Humanities Fellowship,
Wellesley College (United States, Wellesley), 2008
Smithsonian Institution Fellowship, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Institution (United States, Washington D.C.) - SI, 2005 - 2006
Norman Award for Faculty Research
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2005
Bernstein Award for Faculty Research
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2005
Visiting Research Fellow, Center for US-Mexican Studies
University of Califorina, San Diego (United States, San Diego), 1999 - 2000
Graduate Research Fellowships Program, honorable mention
National Science Foundation (United States, Arlington) - NSF, 1994

Organizational Affiliations

Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University

Education

Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
M.A.
Columbia University in the City of New York
B.A.