I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My research lies at the intersection of urban sociology, economic sociology, and political sociology. I am interested in understanding the role of housing markets in place-making and identity formation, and how these processes shape patterns of segregation, inequality, and citizenship. I use a mix of ethnographic/interview methods, historical-comparative methods, and quantitative spatial analysis in my research, which spans the U.S. and Mexico.
My two major research projects explore the social relations that constitute residential property as simultaneously a necessary space of social reproduction, a financial asset, a source of livelihood, a product of community labor, and a producer of social identity. One project examines how twentieth-century programs of property redistribution continue to shape social and materials landscapes in Mexico City. A second project explores how Milwaukee's "municipalized" neighborhoods offer residents and organizers novel tools to address disinvestment, but also formalize a calculus for distributing rights based on notions of moral and economic contribution. My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship, the Institute for Research on Poverty, the Fulbright Student Program, UW-Madison's Institute for Regional and International Studies, and the Crowe Scholarship from UW-Madison's Department of Community & Environmental Sociology. Pronouns: she/her |