She has conducted research on philanthropy, charity, religious humanitarianism, and non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe and India. Her first book, The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe (2005) focused on transnational Christian non-governmental organizations. Her other publications include Disquieting Gifts: Humanitarianism in New Delhi (2012) and Forces of Compassion: Humanitarianism between Ethics and Politics (2011, co-edited with Peter Redfield). She is also the author of scholarly articles that have appeared in American Ethnologist, Ethnos, Political and Legal Anthropology Review, and the Journal of Religion in Africa .