Research
Trained as an anthropologist and a criminologist, my research takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding international and transnational crime. I am particularly interested in how illicit economies form and are shaped by the social processes and macro-level contexts in which they are embedded. Across my work, I combine a strong theoretical foundation with novel sources of data and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. This provides a holistic approach to each research project.
Cultural violence and civilian deaths in syria
Why do armed groups deliberately destroy cultural monuments? How does monument destruction correlate with patterns of direct violence against civilians? And what types of empirical evidence can we use to assess the impacts of rebuilding communities through the recovery or loss of shared cultural property? To answer these questions, we are experimenting with time-space analytical techniques. One of the key products of this project is a fully-georeferenced dataset of incidents from the Syrian war (2011-2018). The dataset is a collaboration with the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. We welcome inquiries and ideas from researchers and practitioners interested in peace and conflict studies, cultural and political theory, critical cultural heritage studies, and post-war community rebuilding. This project was supported by the National Science Foundation and a seed grant from the Quantitative Collaborative at the University of Virginia.
NSF Grant # 1948947
insurgent artifacts
This project investigates how the collaboration between archaeological science and counterterrorism studies impacts the robustness and reliability of data generated. Satellite remote sensing (SRS) data are an essential element of this collaboration and the resulting quality of data. Key to this work is examining how standards of evidence are used and trace the development of this growing subfield of “conflict archaeology.” To do so, we use a combination of archival research, network analysis, and conduct semi-structured interviews with the full range of individuals interacting with satellite images and the research produced from them (detectors, analysis, and policy makers).
Spatiotemporal patterns of archaeological looting in lower egypt
This project seeks to understand patterns of archaeological looting in Lower Egypt and how the broader contextual factors influence these patterns. Not only has there not yet been extensive scholarship to understand the link between looting and contextual forces, there is a dearth of research on the most effective ways to study these interconnected variables. Using a framework of routine activity theory, this project proposes a new possible approach that considers spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal relationships to establish baseline data on patterns of archaeological looting attempts in Lower Egypt from 2015 to 2017 relative to sociopolitical, economic, and environmental stress. Specifically, it proposes a methodology for collecting and coding data on archaeological looting attempts from satellite imagery and then applies a series of spatial (clustering, proximity), temporal (SEM, VAR, ARDL), and spatio-temporal methods (clustering, hot spots analysis, spatial time series) to these data to demonstrate the importance of analyzing this phenomena multidimensionally. Read the full-text and coding protocol below.
provenance changes and the saleability of art
Auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Bonhams, and Christie’s are essential to the antiquities trade, a market that continues to raise concerns about money laundering, forgeries, and illicit trafficking. Auction houses’ role in these activities is poorly understood, and despite the wealth of research using auction house sales data there has been little research looking at the specific market pathways through which these businesses source their goods. This project uses social network analysis to trace the movement of objects, the number of times they are put up for auction, and how many times they are sold relative to changes in provenance information.
cumulative disruptions to a human smuggling network
This project examines how illicit networks fail through a multi-national/multi-year investigation of a prominent Chinese human smuggling network operated by Cheng Chui Ping (“Sister Ping”). One dimension of the project takes a qualitative approach and uses archival research to examine the decision-making processes in the network. Another dimension of the project looks at the multiplexity of relationships within the network.
Trajectories of looting
This project seeks to reconceptualize cultural heritage monitoring from a reactionary approach to proactive data collection and resource allocation. The goal is to develop a toolkit for threat detection by treating each site having its own life course of evolution over time and space. In doing so, key stakeholders will be able to more effectively allocate existing resources for protection and prevention as well as move towards predictive modeling and threat detection systems.