Stockholm, Sweden - Midsummer 2017
Areas of Expertise
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About MeI am an Environmental and Natural Resources Social Scientist working to understand how Governance does/does not and can produce Socio-Ecological Justice in complex contexts.
I am an active member of the Rural Sociological Society and International Association for Society & Natural Resources. I am also a Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance project, where I am a Co-Leader and Co-Founder of the Task Force on Ocean Governance and the Cluster Group on Coastal Communities. Beyond the context of communities in coastal areas, I am passionate about rural communities and livelihoods from the mountains to the plains. My research focuses on the cross-scalar and multi-level opportunities and barriers to sustainable development and collaborative governance of the environment and natural resources from a community-based perspective. In essence, I study linkages of structures, processes, and change among organizations, institutions, and people to understand how people do and can adapt to and mitigate climate disruptions in ways that maximize resilient and sustainable development for socio-ecologically just outcomes. You can find out more about my research approach here. In North Carolina and Louisiana, my research focused on the resilience and adaptation of coastal communities and groups to disruptions from political, market, technological, and natural/climate forces. I studied the politics of fishery livelihoods amid amenity-led development, a boat-to-fork program, the links between inundated lands and enclosure, and differential risk responses across racial/ethnic and class groups. In South Dakota, I examined natural resource governance as well as continuing research on livelihood adaptations to socio-ecological disruptions. Studies included an exploration of the institutional and organizational linkages in wetland governance, livelihoods impacts of wetland expansion on agricultural land, and how peri-rural place characteristics affect the coping strategies of welfare recipients. I also have experience teaching a variety of topics and working with students from diverse backgrounds. I have served as an adjunct instructor at Colorado State University and University of Wyoming, Assistant Professor at University of Louisiana- Lafayette, and Assistant-to-Associate Professor at South Dakota State University.
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