My current book manuscript Beyond Informality: How Chinese Migrants Transformed a Border Economy is a trilingual ethnography of Chinese vendors in a transnational commodities circuit in South America.

My research on the tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina focuses on how the establishment of special economic zones and deregulation changed the informal economy.

My work on informality advances a theory of postcolonial capitalism by analyzing the role of legality for the extraction of economic resources. 

My investigation reveals the links between diaspora associations and subnational governments in the home country.

A new line of inquiry in my research focuses on the United Nations' interagency cooperation to address climate mobilities.

My work with critical refugees studies spans from my teaching and mentorship to Refugee Action to my applied research and activism.

My research amplifies current activism for the acknowledgement of the Brazilian government's anti-Japanese oppression in the 1940s.