Drawing from interviews, observations and archival research, my research interests span law & society, global sociology, cultural sociology, gender, migration, critical criminology, and sociology of storytelling.
My current projects critically analyze human trafficking policy, immigrant detention, and social movements’ use of victim stories for social change. I also write about qualitative research ethics and how emerging technologies – such as biometrics, machine learning and blockchain – are changing the contours of law and legal practice.
Human Trafficking: Why Now?
Over the past two decades, human trafficking has shifted from a marginally recognized international issue to a central and urgent one. The issue of trafficking, however, is not new. Why do social problems enter the global arena when they do? Drawing from over 300 UN documents, archives and personal accounts, this project compares the success of the 2000 UN Trafficking Protocol to the failure of a similar one in 1949.
*Award winner: Best Graduate Student Paper, Global & Transnational Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, 2017
International Human Trafficking Law in Action: Cambodia & the US
Highlighting culture and meaning rather than rational or functional action, this project examines how new global paradigms around contemporary human trafficking legislation orient ground-level solutions. Drawing from UN, government and NGO archival records and interviews, I compare and contrast how international counter-trafficking law is “translated” into local solutions and practice in two very different contexts: the United States and Cambodia.
Longitudinal Factors Contributing to Violence & Re-Exploitation Among Previously Trafficked Persons in Cambodia w/Vanntheary Lim and Chantha Nhanh.
Drawing from longitudinal interview data with survivors of commercial sexual exploitation in Cambodia, this study uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine multiple conditions associated with trafficking and exploitation (e.g., poverty, debt, low eduction, filial piety) to understand what combinations of these conditions are associated with re-exploitation after trafficking survivors have reintegrated and returned home.
Detention Research Project w/ Rocio Rosales
What impacts do detention and deportation have on immigrants while they are detained? This ongoing qualitative research project, based on multiple interviews with over 40 detained immigrants from Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean during their time in detention, aims to understand the perceptions and experiences of individuals being held in California detention facilities. Several papers and co-authored book project in progress.
Storytelling for Advocacy w/ Francesca Polletta and Kelly Ward
Ongoing qualitative research project examining how advocates, social movements and professional consultants utilize personal storytelling to pursue social change. Participants in the study advocate for/against multiple social issues (e.g., abortion, marriage equality, homelessness, human rights) and in multiple contexts (e.g., the US, Southeast Asia, Africa).
Law in Computation, w/ Evan Conaway, John Emery, Noopur Raval, Stephen Rea, Bill Maurer, and Mona Lynch
With support from the National Science Foundation’s EAGER Program to support transformative research in its early stages, UCI’s Technology, Law & Society Institute explores scholarly intersections between law, practice and technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, new media, and blockchain. As a fellow of the Institute, my colleagues and I considered how new technologies – such as AI, block chain, and machine learning – pose new opportunities for the re-imagination of law and social science research. In our recent article at Law & Policy Specifically, I critically analyze global initiatives intended to improve the rights of migrants using biometrics and blockchain technology.
Last updated August 2021