Notes from the North(west) Country

I started this blog when I moved to Fargo to conduct research for my dissertation in anthropology. I left Fargo in July, and now I am back at the University of Oregon, but I will continue to write about Fargo as I process and analyze the data I collected and write my dissertation. I got to Fargo via a long list of geographical, intellectual, activist, and atavistic avenues and crossroads. I went to work with Bosnians and Southern Sudanese and the institutions that serve them. I wanted to know how different groups of refugees transformed and were transformed by the city, and more specifically by the institutions in the city.

I’m passionate about human rights, feminism, migration, politics, literature, music, travel, friends, and family. Since 2002, I have mostly been a phd student in cultural anthropology at the University of Oregon. Informing this blog are my previous work and volunteer experiences: from 1998-2000, I worked for a Bosnian women’s nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Zenica, Medica Infoteka. While there, I coordinated research with Romani (Gypsy) women about the prevalence of domestic violence and oral histories. I speak Bosnian. Later, I worked as case manager for Lutheran Social Services Refugee and Immigration Programs in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I learned more about the wars taking place in Sudan (and elsewhere). In 1997, I earned my B.A. in Psychology and English Literature from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and in 2004, I got my M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from University of Oregon. In case you’re wondering, I can’t say exactly what I will do once I get my PhD but I’m hoping it will be some combination of teaching, nonprofit work, and advocacy.