About Me

Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from American University in Washington, DC.

An avowed introvert who plays an extrovert on TV. I am terrible at normaling, yet quite good at adulting. If I am not pondering, I am pun-dering. Ever curious.

A few of my scholarly interests: women’s studies, food, all things Eastern European, gentrification and placemaking, economic anthropology, informality, and language.

I teach/have taught:
SIS 205 Intercultural Communication
SIS 260 Identity, Race, Gender, and Culture
SIS 240 Global Inequality and Development
ANTH 215 Sex, Gender, and Culture
SIS 642 Intercultural Relations
SIS 750 Ethnographic Research Methods for International Affairs
ANTH 396/ WGSS 396 Feminist Ethnography
ANTH 140 Anthropology of Life in the U.S.
AMST 140 Washington, DC: Life In a Monument

I am also a freelance writer and editor. Occasionally, I am quoted in things or talk to important people :). Take a look at my Mom’s book, too.

I am a mean cruciverbalista and a not so mean feminista. I am really into my vegan cookifyings, music (I used to dabble in DJing), underground hip hop, knitting, arts’n’crafts,  groan-inducing puns, Dad jokes, hot saucin’, fermenting/fomenting, and general subversiveness.

Song that probably best describes my ethos: Fleetwood Mac “Sarah.” Find the poet in your heart. Never change and don’t you ever stop, Ponygirl 🙂

Don’t challenge me to a hip hop lyric quoting contest because you *will* lose.

I came to the United States from Bulgaria when I was 12–32 years ago (yes, I just dated myself). Like your typical transplant, I am a girl without a home or, better put, *intensely immigrant*. Still on my “geography of self” journey, sans Don Quixotian flights of fancy.

I teach Pilates and am a certified Lagree trainer. I am also a budding botanist/herbalist and read Tarot.

Want to say hi? Please do.