Will BooseCohort 2020

• MA, Latin American Studies, University of Florida, 2020
• BA, History, Florida State University, 2018

Will (he/him/his) is a PhD candidate conducting research on the labor experiences and social worlds of mototaxistas (motorcycle taxi drivers) in the Peruvian cities of Iquitos, Lima, and Callao. He also thinks with mototaxistas about the Peruvian state’s varying governance approaches to mototaxi (motorcycle taxi) mobilities in both cities. William situates both of these related lines of inquiry within broader critical study of urban transformations in Perú, due to the ways that state and elite actors often position mototaxistas and their work as antithetical to projects of urban “modernization,” “development,” and “renewal” He interrogates such discourses about mototaxistas—which tend to be classist and racializing—and the related forms of policing and displacement in both his ongoing dissertation work and his existing publications. You can check out Will's research in peer-reviewed articles "Los mototaxis del Perú y la contradicciones de la '(in)formalidad' y 'modernidad'" (Histórica 2023) and "El transporte del pueblo: Los mototaxis y la movilidad cotidiana en Lima" (Ensayo 2024), as well as in his photo essay “Los mototaxistas de Lima, Perú y la ‘ciudad moderna’ que pretende prohibirlos” (RELAT 2022). 

While at Emory, Will has also taught an original anthropology course, served as Graduate Tutor at the Emory Writing Center, coordinated academic conferences and seminars, and worked on digital collections at Emory's Woodruff Library. 

Research interests: Urban anthropology and urban studies, motorcycle taxis, mobilities, anthropology of white supremacy, anthropology of infrastructure, gentrification

Advisors: Dr. Holsey and Dr. Nugent