I am a PhD Candidate with the Program in Ecological and Environmental Anthropology at the University of Georgia. As an ecological anthropologist, my research involves investigating the myriad ways that humans conceptualize and transform our environment and in turn, how our environment affects our beliefs and behavior. My focus is on how humans understand their natural environment; how they name, recognize, and utilize plants and animals, and how this information is learned and then taught to others.
Research Interests:
My research interests include ethnoecology and ethnobiology, socio-linguistics, cognition and learning, transmission and transformation of ecological knowledge, cultural food systems, environmental education, historical ecology, and community-based conservation. My geographical focus areas are the Sonoran Desert, the US-Mexico Border, and Latin America.
Anthropologists are finally beginning to address the dearth of US-based fieldwork, especially in relation to the environment, healthcare, and immigration. These areas would benefit from applied anthropologists' inclusion in planning,educational, and decision-making activities. In this regard, my work has an applied component.
Current Research:
Anthropologists have a growing interest in the loss of local, ecological, knowledge in younger generations. This phenomenon is occurring simultaneously around the world and researchers are shifting their focus from describing local knowledge systems to explaining how these systems work, including how knowledge is learned, transmitted, transformed, and shaped by outside influences.
My dissertation research is supported by the Canon National Parks Science Scholars Program , National Science Foundation, and in-kind contributions from Native Seed Search. My dissertation is titled: "Multi-generational Learning and the Transfer of Plant and Animal Knowledge in the Sonoran Desert". Over the past 18 months, I conducted an ethnoecological study in Ajo, AZ a rural town near the US-Mexico border. My focus is to document what children know and how they learn about desert plants and animals. I am investigating the generational differences in learning between children, parents, and grandparents, and explaining those differences through the social, cultural, economic, and environmental changes that have taken place in the region. My research will connect with current efforts to explain the loss of ecological knowledge in younger generations and will add to theory in ecological and cognitive anthropology on the importance of situated and social learning experiences for acquiring and transferring knowledge about the natural environment. A broader application of this research will be to assist the National Park Service and the Ajo Unified School District with developing more culturally-based, in situ science education materials for local communities bordering the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
