I study interactions that occur between people, as well as within ourselves. I’m specifically interested in the felt experience of those interactions, which I think of as the “in-betweens.”
In interactions between two or more people, I’m fascinated by all the things that happen when people encounter each other; not the actual encounter itself (like the words, environment, resolution, etc) but more the in-betweens of the encounter, including what each person brings to an encounter (nervous system state, past trauma, etc), how they experience it, and the lasting impact. I think of this as interpersonal in-betweens.
Within my research, I explore what happens in interactions and interpersonal in-betweens:
I’ve explored specific types of interactions; for instance interactions between public servants and children, interactions with public servants and unaccompanied migrant children; police departments interacting with their communities, and more.
I’ve also explored a number of methods or tools to support interactions; for instance, social media, empathy, curiosity.
My work is currently focused understanding
In our inner personal lives, I’m fascinated by X...I think of these as inner personal in-betweens
Within m
Within my creative work, I explore how working with our hands in creative ways allows us to process our experience of in-betweens and improve our interactions with others.
In my teaching
I am interested in the dynamics that govern relationships, especially those relationships that occur within an organization or between idnividuails with disparate amounts of power (teacher/student, public servant/individual, boss/worker, parent/child, etc).
I'm interested in how the structures of our lives (public policy, institutions, and interactions) shape our felt experience. In other words, how they make us FEEL. I don't necessarily mean emotions, but more the feeling that results in our body that impacts our experience and shapes our actions. All this happens beneath the surface, but it’s what explains everything that is hard to understand.
In everything, I want to know: “But what does that MEAN for a person’s experience? For their everyday life? For their feelings? How does it impact them? How does it shape their life?”
I’ve aimed my academic research at felt experience in different ways for many years. (Go article by article to explain each publication by how it fits into felt experience)
Digital Garden
