Anthropologist. Mindanawon. 

I specialize in the study of upland peoples in Southeast Asia, focusing on the indigenous Higaunon Lumads of northern Mindanao since 1995. I put this site together to showcase some of my work as a researcher.  

My research has been supported by generous grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Henry Luce Foundation, Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, Newberry Library, Vatican Film Library, Arizona State University, and National University of Singapore. I have also been a Graduate Research Fellow of the National Science Foundation (1995-1998), and an American Fellow of the American Association of University Women (2009-2010).

I grew up in the Philippines but moved to the USA after finishing high school. I studied Anthropology and History at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa for my B.A., then pursued graduate studies in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Arizona State University, completing my Ph.D. in 2008. I am also a graduate of IDHA 22 (2007), a programme in humanitarian assistance convened by Fordham University's International Institute of Humanitarian Affairs. 

In July 2019, I officially joined the UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures as an Assistant Professor. Previously, I was at the National University of Singapore in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies (2011-2019), and an adjunct Research Associate in Anthropology and Religious Studies at the University of Missouri. In the Fall of 2017 I was the inaugural Strom VIsiting Professor in History at the University of Toronto.

Last but not least, I am also a native Mindanawon -- from Misamis Oriental province, where I spent my formative years. Mindanao is the most amazing place in the world, and I consider myself lucky to be able to return there periodically for my research.