About

I am sensitive to the deeply personal work of knowledge production; and I build on my own experience as the author of peer-reviewed articles and a scholarly monograph (published by Cambridge University Press in 2019).

I grew up the oldest of five children in a white, evangelical (Focus on the Family) household—largely without television, music, newspapers (or computer). We were lower-middle class and moved often—about every year and a half—as my dad “flipped” the houses we lived in. Home was central Pennsylvania and, for a few years, Lawrence, Kansas.

Public school educated, K to PhD, I earned my doctorate in Latin American and Caribbean history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2014) and was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College. I also hold a BA from the University of Kansas (2005), where I attended as a Pell Grant recipient.

I now live and work in community in central North Carolina.

Outside of et al. Scholars, I serve as a country condition expert and expert witness for LGBTQ+ Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S.

Check out my CV for more information on my professional background and for digital versions of my publications.