Service

Academic Service

In addition to community-based activities detailed below, and my praxis-led teaching philosophy, I have taken on a number of academic service roles, including:

  • Curator and Organizer, Protest Matters People’s Museum, 2017—present.
  • Contributing Editor, Cultural Anthropology “AnthroPod” Series. 2016—present.
  • Curriculum Committee, Anthropology Department, American University. 2016.
  • Peer-Reviewer, Journal of Language and Sexuality. 2014—2016.
  • Organizing Committee, NGO Studies Conference, University of Denver. 2014—2015.
  • Pre-screener/Reviewer, Society for Visual Anthropology (AAA). 2011—2013.
  • Coordinator, Public Anthropology Conference, American University. 2011—2012.
  • Researcher, University of London, Queen Mary’s. Project: Screening Exclusion: Brazilian and Argentine Documentary Film-Making. 2004-2005; 2013.
  • Margaret Mead Festival Intern, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 2008.

Social Justice / Community Engagement

Since moving to the United States, I have played an active role in a number of social justice campaigns. In 2011-2012, I co-founded and edited The Occupied Washington Times / DC Mic Check, a newspaper of the Occupy DC movement, and ran workshops on citizen journalism and backpack media-making at the “DC Free School”. I later co-founded, and continue to contribute to the LGBT Freedom & Asylum Network, an information hub for LGBTQ asylum seekers and their advocates. I support Network affiliated organizations in their service and work, through research, writing and film projects. More recently, I helped organize and promote No Justice No Pride activities, focused on addressing pinkwashing and harmful practices perpetuated by Capitol Pride sponsors and affiliates.

In my long-standing role as Contributing Editor for Red Pepper Magazine (2008—present) I write predominantly on social movements, immigration policy, and film. I also provide mentorship to emerging writers, particularly seeking out voices that have been historically underrepresented  in journalism.

These activities build on my earlier engagements in social justice activism. At the University of Manchester, the largest public campus-based university in the United Kingdom, I served consecutive terms on the Students’ Union Council, including as the elected Welfare Secretary position. In these roles, I helped establish gender neutral bathrooms on campus, taught sexual health education, and served as a peer councilor for Nightline, among other activities. I also ran the Open Media social issue documentary screening weekly series (2006-2008) and was a member of the Editorial Collective of the Manchester Mule (recently relaunched as The Meteor), an alternative newspaper covering local issues from a leftist perspective.

Consultancy

I regularly contribute to research projects, and occasionally run workshops, lectures, and seminars for non-academic audiences on a range of topics, including: LGBTQ+ identities and experiences; the politics and practices of asylum adjudication; global sexualities and cross-cultural understanding; media literacy and critical discourse analysis; research methods for investigative journalists; storytelling through theatre, photography and film, and documentary filmmaking for social justice.

Organizations I have worked with include:

  • UNHCR, US Office (Consultant for project: White Paper on ATD for LGBTQ Immigrants in Detention)
  • National Domestic Workers Alliance
  • The National LGBTQ Taskforce (Lead author for project: Stronger Together best practices to working with LGBT asylum seekers)
  • Lee & Low Books
  • Occupy The Vote
  • Musika (UK)
  • The Trans Resource Empowerment Center (UK)
  • Queer Up North International Arts Festival (UK)