Carol's M.A. thesis examined virtue, ethics, and gender roles in Jinaratnasuri's Līlāvatīsāra (The Epitome of Queen Līlāvatī), contributing to broader discussions of ethical systems in medieval Jain didactic literature. Her current work explores the preparation, consumption, and reinvention of traditional cuisines as a medium through which religiosity, cultural memory, and communal identity are transmitted and renewed within diasporic communities. Her doctoral dissertation explored these ideas as they unraveled in Floridian Jain households.

 

Drawing on both ethnographic fieldwork and scriptural analysis, Carol highlights how food production, preparation, and consumption function as expressions of religious identity and moral duty. She argues that meals operate as narrative spaces in which values such as nonviolence, well-being, sustainability, and animal welfare are interpreted, negotiated, and transmitted across generations. Her work further explores the role of women as cultural agents who actively reshape and recreate religious identity through culinary practices. And, it also emphasizes how evolving dietary practices, including the growing adoption of veganism, reflect broader Jain commitments to environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and compassionate living.

 

New research interests include the teachings of Gurudevshree Kanjiswami and the development of contemporary Jain religiosity outside of India.