I am an activist and scholar. I was an active member of Occupy Wall St, where I helped found the Occupy People's Think Tank. Which was a working group dedicated to spontaneous and open public discussion groups as political action. Topics ranged from racism, to banking, to security at Occupy, and direct democracy, and were open to anyone that wished to join. While Occupy has slowed, I maintain activism of this type despite, and now in cooperation, with my day job as an academic. I have a BA in Sociology, an MA in Economic and Social History, and am working on a PhD in Anthropology. My work focuses on alternative forms of democratic action, with the aim of both critiquing and reimagining our understandings of democracy. To this end I am starting a website called AnotherDemocracy.com, which brings together scholars, activists, organic intellectuals, and interested observers to illuminate and discuss the infinite forms of democratic expression seen throughout the world (both currently and historically).
My current research focuses on squatting as a democratic act, and squatting movements in Europe - specifically the Czech Republic and Sweden. I am also a dyslexic scholar and work on and advocate for different (dis)abilities. I am on the editorial board of Social Movements and Change, and am currently editing a special edition of this journal on Social Movements and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.
