Her research has focused on violence, both written on the body and internalized. For over 20 years, she has taught classes on gender roles in culture, trauma and recovery, war, and the anthropology of death and dying. Her research focuses on the cultural constructions of sex and gendered violence within culture broadly and specifically within religion and war. She is currently writing a book on the island of Vis, Croatia, from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century A.D., focusing on the intersection of gender roles within culture and persistence as a form of resilience.