what I study

My research and my approach to teaching always circles back to a couple questions: how do people become literate participants in the professional communities they wish to join; and how do people work together to change the rules so that more can join.

Right now, I am curious about environmental sustainability and mobility. How can we improve freedom of movement? What does a community’s street design tell us about their story of access and mobility? What are the embodied literacies that are supported? How do people have freedom of movement if they aren’t in cars? How safe are the streets for people walking, riding bicycles, waiting for public transport? 

I study the practices of specific populations–say older women who might want to bicycle, and I try to look at how different communities create the possibility for women to explore this mobility choice. What are best practices, the best examples of communities providing the kind of resources and street design to encourage participation? In other words, I’m often focused on the  interstices of identity, mobility options, and user experience with a genre studies and literacy studies foundation.