I am an urban geographer, trained in urban political economy, and theories of critical race and post-colonial studies. Over the last decade my work has been focused on the geographies of housing inequality, especially eviction and rent-burden in North America.
Engaging in broad-based qualitative, comparative and community-based approaches to research, I take part in research, writing and organizing projects that aim to disrupt the falsely constructed dichotomy between the academy and the community. My work is rooted in addressing social and especially urban inequalities through a practice of research-as-organizing, that prioritizes the livingness and thriving of those most impacted by the inequality that property and landlord-tenant relations mark upon the landscape.
A book project I’m working on right now examines the intimate relationships between present day evictions, colonialism and racial capitalism, bringing necessary insights from critical race, ethnic and critical Indigenous and post-colonial studies to bear on hegemonic socio-spatial and political economic theory within Geography. It draws on archival research, socio-legal historical analysis, oral history and semi-structured interviews, court observation and nine years of grounded research alongside tenants fighting eviction in Atlanta and Vancouver.
Currently, I am a member of The Right to Remain research collective, working to support tenant organizing and uncovering the history and present of struggles for dispossession in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. I am also an organizer with the Housing Justice League, focused on eviction defense and base building with tenants in metro Atlanta, Georgia.
My current research examines the intimate relationships between present day evictions, colonialism and racial capitalism, bringing necessary insights from critical race, ethnic and critical Indigenous studies to bear on hegemonic socio-spatial and political economic theory within Geography. Drawing from archival research, socio-legal historical analysis, oral history interviews, court observation and nine years of grounded research alongside tenants fighting eviction in Atlanta and Vancouver, my work shows how present day evictions in North America are rooted in an ongoing colonial-racial order, and understanding how this power operates requires a deep account of the relationship between that history and our present.