About me
I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at Yale University. As a scholar of global religion and cultural sociologist, my research interests are informed by interdisciplinary and transnational approaches to religion and culture—including influences from sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and ethnic and racial studies.
My dissertation—titled Black Visions of the Holy Land: African American Christian Solidarities in Israel and Palestine—is a comparative study of Israel/Palestine-focused movements in American black churches combining ethnographic fieldwork, formal interviewing, and comparative historical methods. It focuses on intersections of race, religion, and politics through the topic of African American Christian engagement with the issue of Israel and Palestine.
Broadly, my areas of interest include: Religion, Politics, Race, Ethnicity, Religion and Globalization, Social Movements, American Evangelicalism, Cultural Sociology, Social Theory, Qualitative Methods, Sociology of Religion, Religious Pluralism, and Multiculturalism.
I am originally from Ontario, Canada where I earned a BA (Hons.) in Religious Studies (Philosophy Minor) from the University of Waterloo. My undergraduate research focused on Canadian debates over so-called Islamic shari’a courts in the province of Ontario and the changing public role of religion with respect to Canada’s multiculturalism policies. I continued studying religion at Harvard Divinity School, where I earned an MTS degree in Religion, Ethics & Politics. As a masters student, focused on religion and politics within American evangelicalism, Muslim communities in the United States, and Arabic and Islamic Studies. At Harvard, I also worked as a Research Associate for The Pluralism Project, where I co-authored a case study on Muslims in Boston and the political and interfaith issues surrounding the building of a new mosque and cultural center in Roxbury, MA.