My theoretical and empirical work is concerned with the social and economic effects of economic restructuring across the Americas.  I engage with three key literatures: first, feminist and poststructural theories of poverty and identity formation; second, critical development studies work on neoliberal modernization debates, informal work and the feminization of poverty; and third, postcolonial theory which explores the ways in which power dynamics are structured around discourses and practices of race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality.

I am currently launching the Critical Global Poverty Studies (CGPS) group with Asun Lera-St.Clair (University of Bergen).  The CGPS group is under the umbrella of the Comparative Research on Poverty (CROP) network at the University of Bergen and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). Our point of departure is one of intellectual dissatisfaction with current poverty knowledge.  Our work focuses on unsettling dominant discourses of poverty and the poor, and practices that result, across the globe.  We critique the disassociation of poverty analyses and policies in the Global North and South from each other, and instead argue for more effective alternatives which begin from understanding the interconnected processes that produce and name the poor across the globe.  The network involves scholars from across the social sciences in North and South America, the United Kingdom, India, Norway, Europe and South Africa (the group is currently being expanded).  

A recent project funded by the National Science Foundation, collaborative with Lucy Jarosz, builds analysis at the intersections of processes of economic restructuring and representations of poverty that rely on imaginaries of race, class and rural space.  This research examines the geography of white and latino rural poverty in the American Northwest as it is being transformed in relation to the neoliberal restructuring of social policies and work in rural counties in recent decades.  Our preliminary research reveals social and cultural tensions emerging in the Pacific Northwest, and their expression through a range of cultural narratives about poverty and poor subjects.  First we analyze the political economy of rural restructuring in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington over the past twenty-five years through extensive bibliographic, archival and survey research.  Second, we examine the representational practices of white leaders in persistently poor rural counties and the ways in which these cultural narratives serve to reinvigorate neoliberal policies while also silencing a more critical debate about poverty in the U.S.

A third project is a book titled 'Critical Development Geographies' which is under contract for the Edward Arnold Series, Human Geography in the Making, series editor, Alexander Murphy.  This book assesses recent intellectual trends within development geography/studies and argues that a poststructural feminist political-economy approach constitutes an exciting future for development geography.  I introduce readers to Critical Development Geography (CDG) which analyzes development as polyvalent and contextual in terms of its intellectual and material foundations.  CDG also attends to the formation and experiences of diverse subjects of development, analyzing the ways in which particular intellectual streams privilege or erase different subjects and actors.  Finally, and central to CDG, I argue that attending to the spatiality of development -- the ways in which discourses and practices of development link places, move through scales and operate in relation to boundaries -- can reveal and help explain the paradoxes and also work to democratize development.

For more information on my current research, grants and publications, please refer to my curriculum vitae.

Teaching: Approaches & Goals

My courses develop the same themes and approaches as my research.  At both undergraduate and graduate levels, I incorporate theoretical and empirical material that illustrate and build understandings of development and restructuring processes across the Americas.  My courses are designed to encourage students to think of the Americas as integrally connected through historical and contemporary political and economic relationships.  I draw on development studies to identify social, cultural, economic and political issues and processes that have broad reach and relevance across the Americas. 

I approach teaching and learning as student-centered activities, believing that students must be committed to the design of their own education.  Undergraduate students in my classes engage in active-learning in a variety of settings, including group work in lab sections and particularly through service-learning.  I encourage graduate students to engage their research ideas through empirical fieldwork, and to gain hands-on experience with proposal writing and professional publishing.  Ultimately, the goal of my teaching is to engage students as citizens and as intellectuals who are addressing some of the pressing issues of their times.

For more information, please refer to my courses page.

Administrative Roles & Philosophy

I have served in a variety of administrative positions, ranging from department chair, to member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Geographical Sciences, to President of the Association of American Geographers.  I believe that administrative work is an important element of professional service for our Department, our campus and also in the discipline at large.  In each of these positions, I have worked collaboratively to identify areas of importance and to guide initiatives that were important to the collectives with which I worked. 

As department chair, I worked with members of the department to identify several important initiatives.  For example, we underwent a thoughtful and successful ten year review process.  We worked to revision our graduate program; build a vision for our future development and community outreach activities; design and engage in a strategic planning process; build our web presence to communicate widely about the department; and build on an ongoing curriculum assessment project.  In all of these projects, members of the department worked together to foster open communication, to consult widely and to create an environment that is supportive of good ideas, from whichever quarter.  From all of this work I have learned that service involves trying to build a ‘culture of possibilities’ that allows creative people to do their best work.

For more information on my administrative roles and positions, please refer to my curriculum vitae.