I am a visiting assistant professor of sociology (in the areas of globalization and Asia and Asian America) at Oberlin College. My research primarily focuses on the political economy of Chinese environmental policy implementation through in-depth qualitative methods. Specifically, my scholarship focuses on the myriad of interests (capital, labor, and other state bureaucrats) that mid-level bureaucrats navigate and create as they (fail) to implement environmental policies in Shanxi and Henan provinces, located on China’s largest coalfield, that are meant to curb coal production, consumption, and pollution. To investigate the interactions between mid-level officials and managers, workers, and other officials, I spent 12 months engaged in comparative ethnographic work, supplemented by 148 semi-structured interviews. The future of global climate change is dependent on whether or not Chinese mid-level officials can faithfully implement environmental policies, therefore understanding the ways that they actively resist implementation is crucial.
Spring 2023
Introduction to Sociology: Principles of Sociology — SOCI 120
