The Chains We Forge: Complicity as a Tool of Oppression
Presented at the William & Mary Graduate Research Symposium.
Research
The questions I keep chasing
My work lives where genocide & mass-atrocity prevention, international law, and lived human experience meet — how violence begins, how transitional justice repairs what it can, and how prevention gets there first. I’m currently an Auschwitz Institute Fellow doing my MS at Binghamton.
The questions
Areas of interest
Six threads I keep pulling on.
Transitional justice & recovery
How societies pursue accountability and repair after mass violence — and why the sequence matters.
Memory & historical narrative
How we remember violence, who owns the story once it’s told, and what remembering is for.
Complicity & moral responsibility
The uncomfortable middle — bystanders, enablers, and the slow slide from ordinary to unthinkable.
Civil society & grassroots peacebuilding
The role of ordinary communities in building peace from the ground up, before and after atrocity.
Socio-anthropological lenses
Reading atrocity through culture, memory and identity — because the numbers alone never explain it.
Technology & early warning
Using data and emerging tools to anticipate mass violence early enough to act.
In print & at the podium
Publications, projects & talks
Tap any card for the fuller story — a few link out to video.
The Chains We Forge (SPEL series)
An earlier version, pressure-tested at Binghamton’s Philosophy Graduate Conference.
How Genocide Adapts: Settler Colonialism in America
A comparative genocides case study, Binghamton University.
Comparative genocide analysis
An interactive, map-driven comparative study reading atrocity as a process.
Legal Parameters of the Crime of Genocide
On the efficacy of the Genocide Convention — incl. The Gambia v. Myanmar.
Understanding Demographic Trends Through Cultural Anthropology
Presented at the Maryland Collegiate Honors Conference.
Pain, Passion, Purpose
Presented at the frank Conference, University of Florida.
Transitional Justice Around the World
Panelist at the Maryland Collegiate Honors Conference.
The academic record
Academic background
2025 – 2027 · Binghamton, NY
MS, Genocide & Mass Atrocity Prevention (GMAP)
Binghamton University
- Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities Fellow.
- Focus on comparative atrocity prevention, early-warning methodologies, and the legal & moral architecture of genocide.
2020 – 2022 · Frederick, MD
BA, Global Studies — Honors & Highest Distinction
Hood College
- Concentration in Conflict Resolution; minors in Nonprofit & Civic Engagement Studies.
2017 – 2020 · Rockville, MD
Associate of Social Sciences — Honors
Montgomery College
- Honors program scholar with departmental recognition in political science and international studies.
2022Shirley Conner Hardinge AwardHood College — excellence in Global & International Studies
2022Award in Nonprofit & Civic EngagementHood College — departmental excellence
2022Janice E. Cole Writing PrizeHood College — most outstanding humanities essay
2022Bromer Peace AwardHood College — significant contribution to peace work
2022Portz Award (Four-Year)Maryland Collegiate Honors Council
2021Davis Projects for Peace Grantee$10,000 peacebuilding grant
2020Outstanding Renaissance ScholarMontgomery College
2020Excellence in Political ScienceMontgomery College
2020Portz Award (Two-Year)Maryland Collegiate Honors Council
2019Excellence in International StudiesMontgomery College
Honor societies: Pi Sigma Alpha (political science) · Sigma Iota Rho (international studies) · Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish) · Phi Theta Kappa (two-year honors)