academic research

Conference Presentations

  • Five College Anthropology Conference, Mount Holyoke College, MA, April 2022

    Using digital technologies as interfaces for body-modification, SOPHIE engaged in surreal acts of gender play, embracing robotic and plastic aesthetics to challenge conventional notions of the gendered body as natural. Whether presenting as a disembodied femme bot voice or a melting animated face intercut with consumerist symbology, SOPHIE used artificiality as a lexicon to disrupt gender norms and reclaim trans bodycraft as a space of empowered self-authorship and play.

    Analyzing SOPHIE’s work in tandem with trans testimonies and queer theory, I examine how repressive pathologies of transness within the American medical-industrial complex, constrict trans subjectivities through reinforcing dichotomies of natural vs artificial. Borrowing the thesis of SOPHIE’s art, I theorize that gender is always an act of manipulation and bodycraft. Through embracing this creative process or embracing gender’s artificiality we may move from a place of conscriptive recapitulation to a more empowered playful realm of authorship.

  • Gender & Globalization Annual Conference, Smith College, MA, March 2021

    In this conference presentation, I analyzed how artist M.I.A. uses performance art to carry the scars of colonialism into Western public spheres, challenging white-supremacist hegemony with a transnational politic rooted in solidarity with the Global South. Through her music, visuals, and public persona, M.I.A. disrupts dominant narratives of nationalism and migration, yet her activism has often been met with hostility from Western media outlets, which have misrepresented and dismissed her critiques of imperialism.

    My research and theorizations on M.I.A. informed the development of notes for “M.I.A. Pt.1” and “M.I.A. Pt.2” of the It Girl Theory podcast, expanding on her cultural impact and media reception. This presentation earned me the honor of Selected Plenary Speaker at the 2022 Gender & Globalization Annual Conference.

Documenting Lesbian Lives Project: Jill Schneiderman

Sophia Smith Archives

As part of the Documenting Lesbian Lives project, I produced an oral history project featuring Jill Schneiderman, who reflects on being at the vanguard of lesbian-headed households in the 1990s and the challenges of being a woman in STEM. She discusses the profound value of cross-generational engagement between queer youth and elders, joyfully recounting the sense of community she has fostered with her students as a professor. Other topics include Jewish identity, her first marriage to a man, feminist science, the Women’s Pentagon Action, critiques of ecofeminism, lesbian bar culture, lesbian genders, gay marriage, the joys of parenting, and her hopes for future generations. To create this project, I conducted extensive theoretical and historical research, crafting an eighty-seven-question interview guide. I filmed the interview, edited and balanced the audio, refined the footage, and produced an accompanying transcript to ensure accessibility and historical preservation. Click on the image or this link to watch.

Awards and Credentials

  • Achieved Summa Cum Laude honors at Smith College, graduating in the top percent of my class.

  • Made the Dean’s List at Smith College 2019 - 2023.

  • Inducted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, America’s most prestigious academic honor society.

  • Was invited to be a keynote speaker at Smith College’s annual sociology Gender & Globalization conference.

Smith College

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with Highest Honors 2023

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Masters in Medical Anthropology and Sociology 2024 - Present