My research examines how environmental contamination becomes embodied in everyday life and how environmental harms are shaped by gender, place, and political-economic power. I focus particularly on women’s experiences of toxic exposure, reproductive and caregiving burdens, and the often-unrecognized labor of managing illness and uncertainty. My current research examines PFAS contamination in and around Parkersburg, West Virginia, while situating these experiences within broader questions about how the costs of industrial production are distributed across bodies, households, and communities. Through qualitative and community-engaged methods, I foreground embodied experience and local knowledge as important forms of evidence for understanding environmental harm. Ultimately, my work asks whose bodies and futures are protected, whose knowledge counts in decisions about environmental risk, and what meaningful accountability, repair, and environmental reproductive justice might look like in communities living with toxic harm.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Advisor: Becky Mansfield