In my teaching and cross-cultural research and teaching, I explore environmental and social movements, political culture, postsocialist societies, health and social justice, and food anthropology. I have conducted ethnographic research in Hungary, Portugal, and the United States. In my book, Wild Capitalism: Environmental Activists and Post-socialist Political Ecology in Hungary (2006), I examine how the meanings of “civil society” and “environment” have changed as environmentalists encounter the political and ecological realities of life after state socialism. More recently, I investigated the public health and environmental issues of Hungarian Roma (Gypsies) communities using participatory digital research methods such as PhotoVoice. I have also used these methods working with community food systems organizations in western Massachusetts. My next international research project focuses on urban environments and heritage policies in Portugal. I am the co-PI (with Jacqueline Urla) of a three-year NSF research and training grant, "Cultural Heritage in European Societies and Spaces" (NSF-OISE #0968575).
Articles
A Photovoice Participatory Evaluation of a School Gardening Program through the Eyes of Fifth Graders (with Catherine Sands, Lee Ellen Reed, and Maggie Shar), Practicing Anthropology (2009)
In the springtime, fifth grade students at the Williamsburg Elementary School in rural Western Massachusetts...
Environmental Justice and Roma Communities in Central and Eastern Europe (with Tamara Steger and Richard Filcak), Environmental Policy and Governance (2009)
Environmental injustice and the social exclusion of Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)...
Great Expectations? The Changing Role of “Europe” in Romani Activism in Hungary (with Peter Vermeersch), "Ethnic mobilization in the new Europe," Conference proceedings (2006)
Contemporary political action for ethnic and national minorities in Europe appears to be increasingly directed...
'Wild Capitalism’ and ‘Ecocolonialism’: A Tale of Two Rivers, American Anthropologist (2005)
The development and pollution of two rivers, the Danube and Tisza, have been the site...
The Genius of the Nation versus the Gene-Tech of the Nation: Science, Identity, and GMO Debates in Hungary, Science as Culture (2004)
Introduction In the late 1990s, Hungarian politicians, environmentalists, and agricultural lobbyists weighed the pros and...
Books
Wild Capitalism: Environmental Activism and Postsocialist Political Ecology in Hungary (2006)
"Wild Capitalism" examines environmental issues in the "New Europe" of the twenty-first century. Specifically, it...
Contributions to Books
International Environmental Justice: Building the Natural Assets of the World’s Poor (with S. Ravi Rajan), Reclaiming Nature: Environmental Justice and Ecological Restoration (2007)
In recent years, vibrant social movements have emerged across the world to fight for environmental...
Popular Press
Radio interview: "Growth of far right in Hungary poses a danger to Roma" (with Peter Driftmeier), Redeye Radio, Vancouver, BC (2010)
Right-wing and far-right parties made significant gains in Hungary's recent national election. This rise in...
Presentations
Across the Bridge: Using PhotoVoice to Investigate Environment and Health in a Hungarian Romani (Gypsy) Community, European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) (2010)
New Directions in Participatory Visual Ethnography: Possibilities for Public Anthropology, American Anthropological Association (2009)
New visual technologies are changing the ways that anthropologists do research and opening up new...
Lives, Images, Audiences, Intentions: Participatory Visual Anthropology in a Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, America Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) (2009)
Participatory visual methodologies open up new possibilities for community collaboration in the research process, appeal...
From Democratization to Globalization to Justice : Political Generations in Hungarian Environmentalism from the 1980s to the 2000s , György Ránki Symposium on Hungarian Studies (2009)
This presentation applies sociologist Nancy Whittier's concept of "political generations" to explore political identities and...
Photo exhibitions
Across the Bridge: Using PhotoVoice to Study Environment and Health in a Romani Community. (with The Sajó River Association for Environment and Community Development, Hungary), (PhotoVoice exhibition catalogue) (2009)
This photo essay is the product of a partnership between Prof. Krista Harper, the Sajó...