Hi! I am a sociocultural anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher at Durham University (UK) whose research deals with material heritage, exile and absence, legacies of imperialism and colonial rule, and collective memory in the Eastern Mediterranean. My doctoral dissertation, culled from two years of ethnographic fieldwork, addresses the legacy of Lebanon's Jewish community and their spaces “post”-Civil War (1975-90). Broadly, I am interested in questions of collective & nationalist narratives and memory, space/place, heritage, and "otherness" in the body politic, particularly in the Middle East. I received my PhD from UCLA in Anthropology (2023); MA from New York University in Near Eastern Studies (2014); and my BA from Smith College in Religion (2012). 

Beyond the academy, I contribute to culture travel platforms in ways that challenge typical narratives of tourism and consumption by engaging with the complexities of places and people, demonstrating through storytelling that the cultural is always and inextricably political. I write to reveal both a common humanity and to analyze the power dynamics of interpersonal encounters by, as the anthropological adage goes, making the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

I also work as a freelance research consultant on a wide-range of issues dealing with culture and society in the Middle East and beyond. I have consulted for science and tech companies, museums, and research groups on topics ranging from fertility rituals to the local aftermaths of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings.

Other things that strike my fancy include my cats, growing edible and medicinal plants in what little space urban dwelling allows, painting, and being kind of obsessed with skincare. I am currently based in Cambridge, UK.