Undergraduate Institution: The University of Chicago
Undergraduate Major: International Studies
MAPSS Graduation Year: 2016
I joined MAPSS to continue studying, with an anthropological focus, modes of political rage enacted in counterpublic performances (especially among youth), the futures they code for and/or open, and the territories and thresholds of patience they entail. These interests emerged while conducting my undergraduate fieldwork on the political economy of East African popular musical genres and commodities—specifically Tanzanian hip hop. Since joining MAPSS, these interests have deepened from engaging with research in affect studies, linguistic anthropology, and political theory. During my time in MAPSS, Michael Silverstein’s Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, Lauren Berlant’s Advanced Theories of Sex and Gender, and Stephan Palmie’s Afro-Atlantic World courses were especially impactful to these ends. Under Lauren Berlant’s advisorship my MA thesis explored how episodes of public intimacy in a queer-centric Chicago performance event help compose and pattern social behaviors that hold up a context to make and build worlds alternative to experiences of everyday ordinariness and abjection. Presently I am studying in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for eight months on a Boren Fellowship researching the 2015 Tanzanian presidential and parliamentary elections, energy policy, and conspicuous corruption. This fellowship opportunity would not have been possible without access to the University of Chicago’s invaluable institutional and faculty support and guidance.
