Current Research

I am currently researching two manuscripts.

1.) Hose and Bayonet: Civil War, Firemen, and the Reconstruction of the Urban South, 1861-1911. This study focuses on the evolution of fire departments in New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, and Charleston, the leading ports of the South and its largest cities, with particular attention to issues of race, masculinity, and technology within the war-ravaged region.

2.) Emancipated Spirits: Voodoo in American Popular Culture. This study explores representations of “voodoo” in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present. The chapters examine issues of slavery, race, music, imperialism, and civil rights.