Sociology & Scholarship

I changed career directions in 2000 and returned to school for a sociology degree. I received my B.A. from CSU Chico in 2005, graduating summa cum laude. When not engrossed in novel writing I conduct research as an independent scholar, and work on non-fiction articles that synthesize information from a variety of disciplines. My original research has received an award for excellence (see #1 below), and I have related work being prepared for publication. Additionally, some of my fictional works in progress draw heavily from true events and social-historical research.

The bottom line of my scholarly interests is that I am a synthesist, using insights from many disciplines to attain deeper understanding of a given issue. I am an information omnivore, finding answers in a big picture synthesized from a multitude of cross-disciplinarian inputs.

As a result of these interests I have my own research library, belong to numerous online discussion groups, and spend way too much money on books.

Correspondence on scholarly topics is welcome. Later I’ll post links here to my research papers when they are available.

Interest Areas

1. Sexuality and deviance, including the bdsm subculture, minority sexual orientations, alternative lifestyles, sex work and social issues (social justice, civil rights, social movements) pertaining to these things.

* 2005 recipient of the Outstanding Student Paper award, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (Western Region) for “Dominance, Submission and Equity: How healthy BDSM occurs without equality between partners.”

* Adjunct faculty, Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco (2003-2008), lecturing on sex work and models of relationship dynamics in bdsm.

2. Futurism, international relations, and evolving complex systems and structures (technological, social, political, economic), particularly in the U.S., E.U., and China

3. Social history, as well as sociology of history. Areas of particular interest: China, Japan, Germany, American West, medieval and 19th century Europe, Roman Empire

4. Social psychology, focus on identity, power, and relationship dynamics.

5. Eclectica: oral history and ethnography; urban history and development; cyberspace; organizational systems; aspects of political science. Many other things as the mood moves me.