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professionally, ms.cyberanthropology

I recently completed my MA in Anthropology at Wesleyan University, where I conducted ethnographic research on the online social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net. Currently, I am interning as a research assistant for danah boyd through the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, investigating the issue of pro-self harm websites [eg; pro-eating disorder, pro-cutting, pro-suicide]. Other current projects include research on the way members of the psytrance underground utilize Tribe.net and subcultural capital to facilitate local scenes and a global community based on shared lifestyles and beliefs, as well as exploring new ways of writing and storycrafting at the dawn of the cyberculture.

poetically, new york

for though i could never convey quite the creature i am in this city, the following might suffice:

a work mule, with a camelbak,
my newfound umbilical cord.
i run, i burn, i battle and play
with pups fierce and absent-pawed.

this city burns itself into exhaustion,
sparkle and doom.
from raspberry fields to subway surfer i am
wide-eyed wondering at the animal of man.

possibly, the future-now

Having majored in both anthropology and psychology as an undergraduate, my approach to knowledge is founded upon understanding people from the inside-out as well as the outside-in. That is to say, from the empathic participant-observation of the habitus in question. I'm interested in experiences that subvert the norms and hierarchies that order everyday life, and seek to explore further those imagined (hyper)spaces at the edges of this thing we call reality. More recently I have been pondering, in what ways do we make and perform ourselves in imagined mirror-spaces such as the internet, and how do we experience dissemblage and divinity in liminoid moments such as music festivals and art happenings? How do we take advantage of this new medium to refashion not only ourselves, but our communities, so as to facilitate such states? I wish to engage in a collective movement to craft the stories that capture such moments, passing them on in myriad mediated forms. If you are interested in co-constructing a massive web-based art project, please contact me.