About
I am a political and historical anthropologist currently undertaking my doctoral training in the Anthropology and History PhD program at the University of Michigan. My research is focused on the intersection between cultural politics and the social life of theology, especially around ethical formation, the good life, indigeneity, heritage, and kinship among Christian communities in East and Eastern Africa. I am concerned with cultural change, historical transformation, conversion, and projects of revival, along with the ethical and political tensions they generate; but I am equally concerned with the other side of the coin—continuity, stability, and projects that seek harmonious integration amid such tensions. Belonging, boundary-making, and theo-ethical-political contestation are key aspects that emerge in my work around both continuity and change.
My current scholarly work is centered on: 1) historical and contemporary examples of same-sex love and kinship, such as brotherhood covenants, and their relation to Christian, especially revivalist, theology, ethics, and cultural politics, and 2) the cultural history and ethical-political entanglements between indigenous sociopolitical formations and the post/colonial state, particularly as they emerges in contemporary projects of ethnofederalism or non-sovereign cultural institutions.
My research is based primarily in southwestern Uganda and secondarily in northern Ethiopia, but I am also drawn to wider comparative studies and I hope to put my work in conversation with related cases worldwide. I use ethnography, oral histories, and archival research in my work, and I have a keen interest in increasing the use of participatory and decolonial methods in anthropological and historical research, including my own.
Beyond my current scholarly work, I also maintain an active interest in using anthropological knowledge and praxis in development and policy sectors, in particular around environmental sustainability, agriculture, and education, built upon my over a decade of work in international development.
I am happy to connect with prospective students or others who want to know about the University of Michigan Anthropology and History program, or affiliated programs, or who share a common background or common interests with me.
Research Interests
- Ethics and morality; values; the good
- Kinship; sexuality; gender
- Cultural politics and history; cultural continuity and change
- Cultural and social theory; human nature
- Anthropology and theology
- Anthropology of Christianity
- Political theology and theory; moral theology
- Ethnicity and nationalism
- Critical heritage studies; traditionalities and modernities
- Indigenous institutions and movements
- Political and legal anthropology; legal history
- Critical development studies; applied/evaluation anthropology
- Political ecology and sustainability; environmental policy
- Decoloniality; ethical knowledge production
- Uganda; Ethiopia
Affiliations
- African Studies Center
- Science, Technology and Society Program
