My research focuses on the legal, policy and social aspects of capital, finance, and surveillance technologies within urban and corporate environments.
My dissertation project uses ethnographic methods, including interviews and observation, as well as historical and statistical analysis to interrogate the use of surveillance in public housing complexes in New York, reflecting on how it shapes lived experience. Engaging with the work of Lefebvre, Wacquant, Goffman, and Sassen, the dissertation explores social ordering, stigmatization, norm durability, and place-making among NYCHA residents. I further contrast the experiences of residents of neighborhoods that are on both sides of the city-wide demographic shifts associated with gentrification, contextualizing their interactions at the macro and micro levels.
Among the theoretical implications of the dissertation’s conclusions are an enhanced understanding of the connections between the persistence of social inequality, the ‘terra non grata’ of certain urban spaces, and the dismantling of the social welfare state. The practical implications of this work are significant and add to the discourses on the function of technology in the creation of new types of barriers.
With applicable expertise acquired in my work as a capital markets attorney, my interests in mapping the influence of technology and capital upon social phenomena aspire to push the frontiers of sociological study. As a former Public Affairs Director at Planned Parenthood of Alabama, my interests are also strongly rooted in a commitment to social justice.