About Me:
I am an associate professor and chair of the anthropology department at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Michigan. I study religious pilgrimage and contested interpretations of sacred sites. I have also done research into the religious beliefs of astronauts. My great-grandfather was a showman who put on "ethnographic" displays of the Bontoc Igorot people of the Philippines during the 1900s and 1910s and I am also researching how these events reflected anthropology of the era and impacted the Igorot community.
Area(s) of Training
anthropology, cultural anthropology, ethnography
Area(s) of Expertise
Religion, pilgrimage, sacred space, history of anthropology
Current Area of Employment
Associate professor and chair of anthropology, GVSU
