Abstract This dissertation investigates the coexistence of humans and javelinas in Texas. Through a blend of traditional ethnography, ethology, and GIS mapping, the study explores the dynamics of interactions at three primary sites across Texas, emphasizing the mutual shaping of shared spaces and the significance of negotiation. The dissertation argues that convivial human-javelina relations in Texas emerge from the negotiation of encounters—a form of intersubjective politics—leading to stable social arrangements and imbuing landscapes with meaning. The argument is drawn from three years of r ..read more

Nurturing Alternative Futures: Living with Diversity in a More-than-Human World I am pleased to announce that Nurturing Alternative Futures: Living with Diversity in a More-than-Human World is currently out with Routledge. I am honored to have contributed a portion of my research – “Of People and Peccaries: Perception and Politics in the Texas Hill Country” – alongside such wonderful scholars ..read more

I co-chaired a panel at the 2023 meeting of the American Anthropological Association titled “The America Animal.” Abstract: Other-than-human animals comprise a large part of the social and ecological fabric of our lives in ways that are often unexpected or unnoticed. Humans encounter other-than-human animals as pets, pests, food, medical devices, entertainment, bastions of “wild” nature, and more. While many animal species may be found in many countries and range across national borders, we ask, what makes an “American” animal? How are Americans and other-than-human animals transformed through ..read more

I was invited to speak in a Pardee Keynote Symposium on “Encouraging Positive Mental Health in the Geosciences” at the 2023 Geological Society of America meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. The symposium was part of a NSF-funded grant to explore and ameliorate institutional triggers for mental health crises among faculty and students. Abstract Mental health is a pervasive concern in university settings, further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This intersection of circumstances has intensified the dilemma of balancing academic productivity, personal lives, and mental well-being among students and f ..read more

I was a guest on the Marfa Public Radio show, Nature Notes, discussing my research on human-javelina relations in Texas. Listen for a sneak peek at some of the content in my forthcoming book on the subject. Link to the radio show. https://www.marfapublicradio.org/show/nature-notes/2023-05-10/anthropologist-traces-the-multi-species-politics-of-javelinas-and-humans ..read more

Yesterday marked the fourth year since a shooter entered my classroom in Kennedy 236, took two lives, and changed dozens more forever. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte brought me back to campus for the first time since 2019 for the dedication of a new memorial structure and garden. When I first met with university administration after the shooting in 2019, they asked how I thought they should memorialize the victims and survivors. The one thing I emphasized was that I didn’t think that putting Reed and Riley’s names on a building was the best idea. Students go in and out of the b ..read more

Tomorrow, I get on a plane to fly to Charlotte, NC to attend the unveiling and dedication of a new memorial for Reed, Riley, and the other victims of the April 30, 2019 shooting that occurred in my class. I have written several pieces on the subject over the four years and I always write something around the anniversary each year. This year is a little different. I still plan to write on the subject. However, this is the first year that UNC-Charlotte is bringing me back on campus since I moved to Texas in June of 2019. They have invited me to Remembrance Ceremonies every year, but being in Tex ..read more

Humans and Javelinas: Something Something… I need a title … This study is motivated by the broad pressing question: How do we live in a world full of difference? More specifically, how do our relationships with other beings shape our identities and the course of our shared futures? As we experience increasing precarity associated with defining characteristics of the Anthropocene, such as climate change (Gibson and Venkateswar 2015; McGill et al. 2015), a loss of habitat (Corales, De Assis Montag, and Dunck 2022; Johnson et al. 2017), scarcity (Lane 2019; McAfee 2016), conflict (Krauss 2015; La ..read more

Firstly, this is satire. I love all of my paleoanthropologist friends. Paleoanthropology is a scientific discipline dedicated to illuminating our evolutionary history. However, it is also a low-key ancestor-worshipping death cult. Consider this; many paleoanthropologists go to great pains to locate and disinter the fossilized remains of hominins: members of our lineage, after we and chimpanzees/bonobos went our separate evolutionary ways. In the 2013 discovery of Homo naledi, Dr. Lee Berger and his meticulous team of scholars and technicians had to crawl, wiggle, and squeeze through a cave to ..read more

I’ve sent off the first section of my dissertation to my advisor. This section is going in the introduction around the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study. Next stop: “Chapter 1- Contested Actors ..read more