I am an urban sociologist broadly interested in issues of place reputation at the level of neighborhood, city, and region. More specifically, my work focuses on how perceptions of place structure action and inequality. Drawing on interviews, ethnography, and archival research, I have written and co-written about the political consequences of racialized perceptions of disorder, administrative strategies of racialized voter suppression, the consequences of neighborhood stigma on gentrification, the social networks and patterns of trust among poor mothers of young children, place reputation among lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women, merchants’ subjective relationships to gentrification, the creation of the urban sociological canon, the complicated connections between chain stores and notions of hipness, the economics of indie rock, and the social meaning of potholes. I am currently completing a book, under advanced contract at Columbia University Press, about the role of merchants in the social production and maintenance of neighborhood reputation, as well as conducting research for my next book project, which is about the historical roots and contemporary consequences of the American South’s reputation for racism and parochialism. I have received funding for these projects from the Louisiana Board of Regents and the National Science Foundation.

            Prior to arriving at University of New Orleans, I received my PhD from the University of Chicago and my BA from the George Washington University. In addition to urban sociology, I have interests in indie rock, college basketball, and exploration of regional variations in doughnuts. I am originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and currently live in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans.