Maya Singhal is an anthropologist interested in crime and mutual aid in African and Chinese diasporic populations. Their research and teaching also deals more broadly with race, capitalism, racial capitalism, and intergenerational conflicts. Their current book project is an ethnographic and historical study of African American and Chinese American self- and community defense in New York City and the histories of extralegal neighborhood protection (e.g. gangs, neighborhood patrols and associations, etc.) that inform these present-day efforts towards safety. Singhal received a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University, MAs from the University of Chicago and New York University, and a BA from New York University.