
I am an Associate Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University. I received my Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I teach classes and conduct research related to health, food, inequality, and development. For the 2017-2018 academic year, I am a guest researcher at the Department of Food and Nutrition, and Sport Science at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where I am studying the processes that shape how immigrants' diets change after they move to a new country.
I believe that the way we consume and produce food and our bodies are bellwethers of inequality. I have conducted extensive research on denominations of origin in Mexico, France, and the United States, and I am author of Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production (University of California Press, October 2015). I was also the PI and director of Voices into Action: The Families, Food, and Health Project, a 5-year (2012-2017), a mixed methods research and participatory outreach project focused on food insecurity and food access among low-income populations in North Carolina. Along with two colleagues, I have book manuscript under contract with Oxford University Press (expected publication: Fall 2018) about family meals and inequality.
I believe that the way we consume and produce food and our bodies are bellwethers of inequality. I have conducted extensive research on denominations of origin in Mexico, France, and the United States, and I am author of Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production (University of California Press, October 2015). I was also the PI and director of Voices into Action: The Families, Food, and Health Project, a 5-year (2012-2017), a mixed methods research and participatory outreach project focused on food insecurity and food access among low-income populations in North Carolina. Along with two colleagues, I have book manuscript under contract with Oxford University Press (expected publication: Fall 2018) about family meals and inequality.