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Research Interests

I am a feminist political geographer concentrating on conflict, security, and aid/development in Afghanistan. In Colorado, I co-direct the CU-ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Affordable Housing Research Initiative (CU-BAHRI), which focuses on community-driven and engaged research with organizations and individuals providing, working toward, or interested in affordable housing.

My doctoral research focused on the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a clandestine feminist-nationalist organization. My interest in this organization was sparked by my interactions with their international supporters network in the United States. I examined the RAWA's methods of political action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with their effective use of the Internet and international support networks. From 2005 to 2012, my research focused on examining the spatial arrangements, interactions, and gender roles within the international "community" in Kabul, Afghanistan, compared to the "local" Afghan population. The geopolitics and geo-economics associated with the placement of International workers and their interactions with Afghans were central to this project. I also became increasingly interested in the differentiated methods used by Afghans and internationals to provide for their own security in spaces increasingly beset by political violence and a general state of insecurity. From 2012 to 2021, I worked on two projects focusing on women's social and political activism, influence, and power in Afghanistan. One project examined women's roles in the peace process in Afghanistan (2014-2019), funded by the United States Institute for Peace, and the second project focused on women's leadership and influence at different scales, from home and family to national political participation and governance, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Current Research 

Since the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, I have turned my attention to Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. and Canada, along with the status of women's rights and their social, political, and economic participation in Afghanistan.

I am working on a project with ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ County on Manufactured Home Communities through the  . 

Recent Courses Taught

• Fall 2024  GEOG 5152  History and Theory of Geography
• Fall 2023  GEOG 3672  Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography
• Fall 2023  GEOG 5152  History and Theory of Geography
• Spring 2023  GEOG 1962  Geographies of Global Change
• Spring 2023  GEOG 5100  Special Topics Feminist Geography
• Spring 2023  GEOG 5100  Special Topics: Navigating Grad School
• Fall 2022  GEOG 3672  Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography
• Spring 2022  GEOG 5632  Development Geography
• Spring 2021  GEOG 3832  Geographies of South Asia
• Spring 2020  GEOG 5100  Special Topics: Feminist Geography
• Fall 2019  GEOG 5152  History and Theory of Geography
• Spring 2019  GEOG 4722/5722   Field Methods Human Geography