Consuming Crises: Migrant Labor, Spectacle, and Precarity in the 20th Century
This is a postcard from the 1905 production of Fighting the Flames, a disaster spectacle performed at Coney Island in New York.
My research project, Consuming Crises: Migrant Labor, Spectacle, and Precarity in the 20th Century focuses on crises of extractive capitalism as they relate to the migrant, laboring body. Roughly spanning the first three-quarters of the 20th century, each of the chapters in this study center on specific crises of extractive capitalism– events that irrupt or disturb the status quo and require society to recalibrate in its aftermath – and consider how spectacle operates as an embodied mode of managing these crises. Residing at the intersection of performance studies, history, and dance studies, this project creates a cultural history of extractive capital and migrant labor in the 20th century through an investigation into the ways in which said labor comes to bear on bodies, both individual and collective, by studying how it is that people move under capitalism.
An article from this project, "Framing Black Labor: On Archives and Mine Dances in South African Gold Mines, 1950-1970,'" was published in TDR/ The Drama Review in September 2020. More on my publications & writing can be found on my CV on the “welcome” page.
Teaching
Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies:
At UC Davis, I taught the following courses in AY 2023-2024: “Introduction to Contemporary Dance” (Studio Course), “Contemporary Experimental Performance,” “Dance and Performance,” “American Theatre and Drama,” and “History of Theatre and Dance I: Myth, Magic, and Madness.” I also produced, curated, and mentored students for [RE]Vision: 2024 the UC Davis Spring Dance Concert.
Mills College: Spring 2021, I co-instructored a hybrid studio-theory course, “Critical Acts,” for the Masters in Fine Arts in Dance program at Mills College.
UCSD: Spring 2021, I was a lecturer for the course, “Looking at Dance” which was a seminar for majors.
Brown University: I was the graduate student TA for Theatre History and Performance Theory (Rebecca Schneider), and “13 Reasons,” a performance laboratory course devised and taught by guest artist in residence Ralph Lemon.
Communication and Public Speaking:
During AY 2022-2023, I was a visiting assistant teaching professor in Communication Studies at Mills College at Northeastern University. My courses included: Political Communication, Communication Theory, Sex, Relationships, and Communication, Global and Intercultural Communication, and Public Speaking.
Brown University: I have taught Persuasive Communication & Public Speaking at Brown for high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, and adult-learners as a PhD Candidate instructor, through the Executive Masters in Science and Technology Leadership Program, and through other executive education programs through the School of Professional Studies.
In addition, I served as a communications coach and/or instructor for programs at Berklee College of Music, the Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College, Brown University’s Executive Masters Program in Technology Leadership, in addition to other institutions and organizations.
I also provide private communications coaching for politicians, executives, attorneys, clergy, and non-profit leaders and I work with high schoolers on preparing for college interviews.
Teaching in Community:
I thrive on multigenerational teaching and enjoy working with students of all ages. Here are some of the programs with which I have been lucky enough to serve as an educator:
• Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) in their Law Program
• The Kitchen’s Freedom School