University of Maryland University College

Faculty Member, European Division

Adjunct Associate Professor

University of Maryland University College

About

My original background was in Psychology, Critical Theory, and English Literature. That explains why I should have written some essays on Lusophone theatre and Mozambican poetry.

My main interest in the last ten years or so was in psychoanalytic theory, and I wrote a number of studies using psychoanalytic concepts and ideas to read and interpret imaginative writing. This led me into areas which are generally ignored by academic discourse on literature, such as the idea that the imaginative text can be read as biography, and the forensic uses of imaginative texts. It's really a kind of forensic psychoanalysis that I was trying to develop. 

My main interest nowadays is in the areas around bio-archaeology. I am particularly interested in forensic archaeology and anthropology, and these interests tie up with my overall interest in forensics.

At present I am working on a study of the diagenetic and taphonomic processes that occur to human bone in underwater contexts.

And how to describe myself? I like scholarly rigour, but I also like accessible prose. I get irritated with the pretentiousness of much academic work, especially academic work in the so-called humanities.

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