About

I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and a Visiting Instructor of Sociology at Warren Wilson College (2026-27). My research sits at the intersection of law, punishment, and politics. Using historical-archival and qualitative methods, I examine how criminal-legal institutions function in broader statebuilding projects. Broadly, my work explores how punitive systems shape overlapping social institutions, from motherhood to medicine to politics. My dissertation research focuses on the history of state punishment in West Virginia since the 1870s, tracing at mass incarceration’s development in the Appalachian region. 

I strive to engage my work with the communities and publics in which I am embedded. I have taught in and assisted higher education in prison programs, and write for public audiences. I received a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Warren Wilson College, and an MA in Sociology from the University of New Mexico. I am currently based in Asheville, North Carolina.