I’m a scholar, teacher, and poet based at the University of Oregon, where I am Assistant Professor of Italian, migration, and global media in the School of Global Studies and Languages.

My research in critical refugee studies uses the methods of ethnography, media studies, and narrative studies to examine issues of migration and asylum, border regimes, and their representation for different publics, with particular attention to Africa-Europe mobilities and Mediterranean migration via Italy. I hold degrees from the Department of Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University (PhD), Sarah Lawrence College (MFA) and Agnes Scott College (BA). Before joining the University of Oregon, I was Postdoctoral Associate with Cornell University's Migrations Initiative, based in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Italian Studies and the Cogut Institute for the Humanities at Brown University.

My teaching engages students in the areas of cultural studies, global studies, and film, media, and literature, with an emphasis on developing students' critical and intercultural communication skills.

Recent poetry chapbooks include TREAD (Opo 2018) and Océano (dancing girl 2017).