My research interests are in political anthropology, and relate to socio-economic change, political culture and political practices in rural communities in western Mexico during the neoliberal period, with a focus on hegemonic processes, political rationality and relations of power, forms of violence, social and political inequalities and identity. I pay particular attention to interrelations between the practices and discourses of clientelist politics, corruption, and everyday forms of violence in Mexico, and the tensions between these and the practices and discourses of liberal democracy which constitute Mexican political rationality. My research interests have also included political ideology, political identity and ‘informality’ in contemporary Cuba.

The intellectual aims of my research are to deepen the understanding of contextually specific social and political realities, and to contribute to more broadly applicable theoretical development.