Research Interests
My interests have focused on twentieth century America. I enjoy studying popular culture and am especially interested in the ways in which people use their bodies to express themselves and confirm or reject social norms. One of my first major research projects was on the cultural and psychological meanings of body modification practices, which in the broadest sense was a study of the relationship between culture and biology. My research expanded to include the connection between mind and body, and currently encompasses mental health and mental illness and the history and phenomenology of mind-altering substances. I am also interested in labor history, gender, race, and technology as important factors in twentieth century life.