I am an anthropologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I study property, farming and food in the Middle East, primarily in Israel/Palestine. In my research and teaching, I foreground the farmers, laborers, and others who work in the food system. I am interested in the ways that their experiences and perspectives can advance our understanding of agrarian change and justice.
My first book Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine was published in 2026 with Stanford University Press. It is based on archival research and fieldwork in the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan I did from 2013-2022. It chronicles the destruction of agriculture in the West Bank, and shows how rural Palestinians have turned to property ownership and peasant farming to defend and return to their land. Through close attention to the material conditions of the people who live in the central highlands, Plots and Deeds connects Palestinian land defense to a global struggle for land justice.
I am currently at work on two projects. The first uses drip irrigation to study the long Green Revolution across Israel/Palestine, Jordan, and the Gulf. The second focuses on labor and the people who work, not only on the farms, but also in the factories, trucks, and markets that constitute Palestine’s food systems.
I earned my PhD in anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University in 2019. Before coming to UCSB, I held positions at Brown University, the University of Chicago, and Cornell University. I have also worked with the Stop the Wall Campaign and the Land Defense Coalition in the West Bank.