As a scholar, I work at the intersection of aesthetics, geography, cultural policy, and race, with an emphasis on immersive theatrical events, festivals, and the creative economy. 

My in-progress monograph is entitled The Enchantment Economy: Festival Culture and Settler Sensibilities. It combines an ethnographic study of contemporary music festival culture with historical exploration of 19th century proto-festival formations in frontier communities in the United States. I argue that festivals have been integral to the development of liberalism and neoliberalism in North America, especially in their capacity to condition the White colonial relationship to conquered land.

I have an intersecting research project examining performance, race, and arts policymaking in South Africa, where I interrogate the creative sector’s instrumentalization as a tool for postapartheid economic development.

I am excited to announce the edited volume Staging Visitation: Theatre and Tourism, which is currently under contract with the University of Michigan Press. In addition to co-editing the volume with Weston Twardowski (Rice University), my own contribution is entitled "Staging Pura Vida: Destination Music Festival Culture in Costa Rica". 

In addition to my scholarship, I am also an avid theatregoer and critic.