I am Associate Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University, where I also serve on the Executive Councils of the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender, the Center for Science and Society, the Program in Medical Humanities, and the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.

Before teaching at the university level, I taught for three years in Atlanta Public Schools, at Collier Heights/Usher Elementary and KIPP WAYS Academy.

I earned my Ph.D. from the joint program in Anthropology and French Studies at New York University and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia's Society of Fellows in the Humanities. From 2014-2016 I was on the faculty at Yale University.

I am the former managing editor of two journals: Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society. I have also served on the editorial boards of the Social Text Collective and PoLAR: the Political and Legal Anthropology Review. I’m currently a member of Scholars for Social Justice.

Outside of academe, I am the former coordinator of Oakland's Prison Activist Resource Center and the former Board Chair of New York City's Audre Lorde Project. I most recently served on the Board of Directors for Land to Learn, an organization committed to growing a movement for food justice and community wellness through garden-based education.