She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1993 studying under the prominent Africanist and Anthropologist Jean Comaroff, and has done her field work among the people of rural Niger in the Hausa town of Dogondoutchi. Her research focuses have included spirit possession, reformist Islam, Bori religious practices, twinship, witchcraft, the pathology of consumption, medical anthropology, and gender. Currently she is researching the Izala Islamic reformist movement in Niger, examining issues including bridewealth, worship, and dress.