His MA in Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi–Mānoa led him to doctoral study at the University of Chicago. He has conducted fieldwork with the Mangarevan community in the Gambier and Society Islands of French Polynesia, focusing on language at the intersection of culture and history, and he served as one of the co-editors of Varua Tupu:New Writing from French Polynesia, the first anthology of Maʻohi literature to appear in English. He is currently the Book and Media Reviews Editor for The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs.