Research

Ruling Culture book cover, University of Chicago Press I was trained as a sociologist and an archaeologist, and my research addresses a number of related issues including nationalism, cultural heritage, the causes and consequences of cultural violence, and the interplay between political power, material culture, and the organization of illicit markets. Across my research projects I have prioritized comparative analysis of archival documents, artifacts, quantitative data sets, and original ethnographic materials.

Current Funded Projects

  • Cultural Violence and Civilian Deaths: Spatial-temporal analysis of social disintegration. National Science Foundation Award No. 1948947. Award period: June 1, 2020 - May 31, 2022. $144,000. Principal Investigator.
  • Insurgent Artifacts: Scientific urgency, remote sensing, and conflict archaeology. National Science Foundation Award No. 1754992. Award period: June 1, 2018 - June 30, 2022. $245,966. Principal Investigator.

Ongoing Research Projects

  • Archaeological looting and state responses. Ruling Culturemy book about tomb robbers and art police in Italy will be published by the University of Chicago Press in March 2021. 
  • Cultural destruction and postwar spoliation. Cultural Violence and the Destruction of Human Communities, my co-edited book with Fatma Müge Göçek, was published by Routledge in August 2020.