I am Associate Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College and a faculty committee member of Peace and Conflict Studies.
My research examines how protection, legitimacy, and trust are constructed when formal institutions are strained or contested, and how communities, both local and global, organize safety and cooperation under conditions of violence, crisis, and political fragmentation. I combine field-based research with organizational and institutional analysis, and have conducted fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Syria, and Iraq.
I am the author of Taking Sides in Peacekeeping: Impartiality and the Future of the United Nations (Oxford University Press, 2016), several academic journal articles, and co-editor of Civilian Protective Agency in Violent Settings: A Comparative Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2023).