I am a PhD student in geography at the University of Florida, where I research pastoralist strategies to political insecurity in Mali, particularly the central Mopti region of Mali, with wider geographic interest in the Central Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, and Mali. With a focus on vulnerability and marginalization, I generally study pastoralist communities, farmers, and refugees/displaced persons, along with critical dimensions of pastoralism like livelihoods, gender, food security, tensions, violence, mobility, borders, ethnicity, and institutions. Specifically, my thesis looks at pastoralist adaptive strategies to insecurity along dimensions of mobility, livelihoods, and environmental and political insecurity. 

I critically apply political ecology and various spatial frameworks to the empirical examination of pastoralist insecurity and responses, mostly around the dimensions of mobility, violence, and livelihoods. The objective of my research is to relate and integrate the three dimensions of space, livelihoods, and violence to clarify potential impacts on vulnerabilities and insecurities. I aim to clarify potential responses and adaptation by pastoralists and situate them in the broader context of insecurity and violence in the region as well as wider global adaptation processes (climate change, refugee crisis, inequality, poverty, war, etc.). To this end, I am developing a new model known as Spatial Insecurity that integrates violent conflict, different forms of spatial behaviors, mobility, and livelihood systems into the more general theories and models of space (Massey, Yeung, Castells, Walther, and others). 

I am a member of several groups, including the Sahel Research Group and the African Networks Lab. I am also a reviewer for African Studies Quarterly. I speak Spanish (fluently), French (intermediate), and have studied intensive Hausa through the AFLI/FLAS summer intensive program. I teach courses in Geography of Africa and Population Geography. I served as the Florida Society of Geographers student representative from 2022 to 2023, and currently serve in the capacity of Student Director for the Africa Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers.  

My OECD report entitled Pastoralist Violence in North and West Africa was published in July of 2021. I regularly collaborator with OECD on projects related to violence, networks, urbanization, and other topics in North and West Africa. 

Current CV