Field Research

I've conducted research in three distinct settings. This is described in greater detail in the research section of the website.

Fieldwork for my dissertation consisted of 3 summers and 2.5 years of ethnographic research on memory and agriculture, with the Jarai (and Bunong) highland ethnic minority group in Northeast Cambodia. The bulk of my research was undertaken during an extended period (with a break in 2006 when my first child was born) from July of 2004 to May of 2007. I've returned during the dry season every year since then, and will be back in Cambodia in February of 2009. I have also worked in the Cambodian National Archive, and at the Centre des Archives d'Outre Mer, the French colonial archive in Aix-en-Provence.

I spent a short but productive period (June - August 2000) conducting Masters thesis research on the Bolivian lowland indigenous peoples movement, in Santa Cruz and Beni, Bolivia. This included working with movement leaders during a large march originating in Santa Cruz, as well as collaborative research with the Itonama indigenous people of Beni Department.

My introduction to ethnograhic fieldwork was a period of 3.5 years spent living, working, and conducting research on hunting among the Ach, a hunter-gatherer group in eastern Paraguay. From 1994 to 1997 my work with the Ach included working as the field coordinator for an NSF-funded project directed by Dr. Kim Hill, then of the University of New Mexico. I also included conducted my own interview-based research on Ach history, coordinated several community development projects, and designed and implemented a health survey.