Research

I have conducted multi-sited research in comedy clubs across the Midwest, including parts of Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Ohio, which focuses on the role of live stand-up comedy in articulating and at times challenging the audience’s conceptions of racial difference. Reflecting upon my participant-observation, interviews of audience members and comedians, and focus groups, I discovered how the artistic medium of stand-up and the permissive space of comedy clubs facilitates this open negotiation of “authentic” ethnic and racial identities. More recent field work (2018-2019) expanded upon this line of inquiry by considering how local/regional culture, motivation for comedy club attendance, and the presence of a stand-up comedy culture/community intersect to create variability in audience receptivity to social justice-oriented comedy.

I have also conducted collaborative research from 2019-2021 that investigates the issue of racial bias and discrimination in jury selection in the United States through publicly available datasets.

From Fall 2021 - Present, I have been engaged in climate change education research in Higher Education Institutions, examining how professional development opportunities (alongside other incentives) that blend training on the topic of climate change with opportunities to discuss and share literature on climate change pedagogy among faculty in learning communities might foster an expansion and integration of the topic across the curriculum. 

Below are citations of selected published articles currently available on these areas of research. I have provided a CV for a complete list of my research endeavors and publications as well as links to the pdfs of the Accepted Manuscript (AM) for each of these articles.