Influences

My influences

In ways both large and small, old and new, subtle and substantial, the individuals at right have helped me craft restorative responses to my present concerns. Their collective ideas are my constant companions which help animate nearly all facets of my current projects.

Are there any coherent threads connecting them? I tend to think so:

  1. Vigorous critical interrogation
  2. Mind-bending originality
  3. Profound ethical envelopes
  4. Trans- and pan-disciplinary thinking
  5. Passionate commitment to empirical art forms (whilst eschewing empiricism)
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Anthropologist

I've always told friends that the scholar I would most like to have coffee with is Bruno Latour, but after that, I'd love to go mushroom hunting with Anna Tsing. Ms. Tsing's most recent book, The Mushroom at the End of the World (2015), forever altered my view of mushrooms, forests, capitalism, progress, and precarity. Her work not only informs many of my current research interests and projects, but it also increasingly inspires how I move in and through the world. University webpage
Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour

Philosopher, Anthropologist (1947-2022)

What can I say about Bruno Latour beyond the fact that his scholarship has forced me to reevaluate, reassess, reconstruct, and redefine nearly every aspect of my approach to scholarship and education? His ability to seamlessly blend anthropology and philosophy is unparalleled in its ambition, elegance, and scope. Without his work, my intellectual life would be far less rich. Sadly, Bruno Latour passed away in October 2022. Homepage
Michel Serres

Michel Serres

Philosopher (1930-2019)

Latour enthusiasts will not be surprised to read here of my affection for the work of Michel Serres. A philosopher-historian with a rich background in both the sciences and the humanities, Serres’ elegant scholarship and pan-modern sensibilities have long animated some of Latour’s most impactful concepts and approaches. I see Serres as one of the Western world's pre-eminent imaginative writers. Sadly, Michel Serres passed away in June 2019. Wikipedia page
Jay Lemke

Jay Lemke

Education theorist, Physicist

A self-proclaimed trouble- and meaning-maker, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take one of Jay's courses while he was a professor at the University of Michigan. Lemke was my gateway into Latour's work and he strongly encouraged me to attend Latour's talk during his autumn 2006 visit to Ann Arbor (which I did). In my humble opinion, Lemke ranks among the best scholars in contemporary education studies. Homepage
Lynn Fendler

Lynn Fendler

Curriculum theorist

Lynn Fendler was my Ph.D. advisor as well as the chairperson of my dissertation committee. Well versed in the history of ideas in both the continental and analytic traditions, there is nothing Lynn has published that I haven’t enjoyed reading (and nothing she has cooked that I didn’t enjoy eating!). Equal parts historian, philosopher, and artisan-artist, her scholarship is so thought-full and thought-provoking that, in my own work, I routinely find myself wondering, ``What would Lynn say?`` University profile
Ferran Adrià

Ferran Adrià

Chef, Entrepreneur

Ferran Adrià is an outright magician. His Catalonian-based restaurant, El Bulli, was deemed the world's best restaurant a record five times before closing its doors in 2011. Today, chef Adrià is at the helm of the elBullifoundation (a sort of lab-meets-think-tank for gastronomic creativity and innovation) where, fortunately for us, he continues to exercise his passions, skills, intellect, and originality. elBullifoundation
Keri Smith

Keri Smith

Author, Illustrator, Artist

According to her own website, Keri Smith is ``an author/illustrator turned guerilla artist.`` That description is rather modest, however, as she is much more than that. Part noticer, part ethnographer, part cultural critic, part provocateur, Smith has published a number of top-selling, participation-oriented books celebrated by younger and older readers alike. Although I adore all of her writing projects, my favorite is ``How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum`` (2008), a highly original book of immense worth and value. Personal website

Some other influences