My research examines political identity and democratic participation; democratic representation, political candidacy, and leadership; and Indigenous governance and public policy. Across these areas, I investigate how relationships among individuals, political communities, institutions, and systems of governance cultivate political identities and civic capacities, create opportunities and barriers to political engagement, and shape democratic participation, representation, policy, and governance. Using Native American politics as both a substantive area of inquiry and a lens for broader theory building, my work contributes to broader understandings of political behavior, representation, sovereignty, and democratic governance.

Drawing on mixed-methods research, including ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, original surveys, and quantitative analysis, I develop theoretically grounded approaches to studying political identity and political behavior while advancing the methodological study of historically underrepresented populations. Across this work, I am particularly interested in Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty, political representation and leadership, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and research governance, and community-engaged research.

Dissertation Project: Citizens of Two Sovereigns: Native American Identity and Political Participation

My dissertation develops a relational theory of political identity to explain how politically consequential identities are cultivated and how they shape democratic participation across multiple systems of governance. Focusing on Native American politics, I examine how relationships with Tribal Nations, communities, institutions, lands, cultures, kinship networks, and collective responsibilities cultivate distinct dimensions of political identity and shape engagement across Tribal, state, and federal political arenas.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, more than fifty in-depth interviews with citizens of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, and original survey research with Native communities in Wisconsin and across the United States, I conceptualize Native political identity as multidimensional rather than reducing it to racial self-identification or formal Tribal enrollment. The project develops original measures capturing distinct dimensions of Native political identity and evaluates their consequences for political behavior.

The dissertation shows that these dimensions become politically consequential in different ways across overlapping sovereign systems. By bringing sovereignty, nationhood, community, and relationality into the study of political identity, the project demonstrates how Indigenous political life can extend broader theories of identity formation, political behavior, and democratic participation.