Post on 25-Jun-2020
R. Schurman January 2020
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Rachel A. Schurman
Department of Sociology and Institute for Global Studies
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
909 Social Sciences
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-624-1039
Email: schurman@umn.edu
Education
Dec. 1993 Ph.D. (Sociology & Rural Sociology), University of Wisconsin, Madison
1983 M.A. (Economics), Tufts University
1979 B.A. (Economics), University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Professional Academic Employment
2012-present Professor, Dept. of Sociology and Institute for Global Studies, Univ. of Minnesota
2014-present Director of Undergraduate Studies, Institute for Global Studies, Univ. of Minnesota
2008-present Graduate Faculty, Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota
2012-present Affiliate Faculty, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change, UMN,
2005-2012 Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology and Inst. For Global Studies, UMN
2004-2005 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Sociology and Inst. For Global Studies, UMN
1998-2004 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois (tenured in 2005,
while on leave)
1994-1998 Assistant Professor, Energy & Resources Group and Department of Sociology,
University of California-Berkeley
1990-1991 Visiting Research Scholar, Instituto de Economía, Univ. Austral, Valdivia, Chile
Honors, Awards and Grants Received
2015-2020 National Science Foundation, Geography and Spatial Sciences Program, "The Impact of
Value Chain Approaches on Gender and Food Security," (Principal Investigator, 5 year
grant with four co-PI's, $479,808)
2016 University of Minnesota Single Semester leave, "Firms, Foundations, States and the New
'Green Revolution' for Africa"
2014 Univ. of Minnesota, GPS Alliance, Global Spotlight Seed Grant, “The
New Green Revolution and the Politics of Agricultural Policy Making in
Tanzania” (Principal Investigator) ($23,410)
2013 University of Minnesota Sabbatical Supplement, “‘Science for the Poor’: Firms,
Foundations, and Public-Private Partnerships for Technology Sharing”
2011 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Univ. of MN-Twin Cities (Fall semester)
2006 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Univ. of MN-Twin Cities (spring semester)
2004 University of Illinois, College of Agriculture, Council on Food and Agricultural
Research, “Making Biotech History” ($11,000)
2003 University of Illinois Research Board, “Making Biotech History: Social Movements and
Genetic Engineering in Agriculture” ($10,000)
1999 University of Illinois Research Board, “The Social and Environmental Sustainability of
the Chilean ‘Economic Miracle’” ($16,030) 1997 Hellman Family Faculty Fund, University of California, “Natural Resource-Based
Growth in a Global Economy” ($17,600) 1996 University of California, Career Development Grant, “Natural Resources and Export-Led
Growth in Chile Under Neoliberalism” ($4,000)
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1995 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, World Environment and Resources Program, “Contextualizing Markets: Institutions, Natural Resource Characteristics, and Economic Organizations,” Co-PI (with Richard B. Norgaard and Gene Rochlin; 3 year grant, $350,000)
1994-95 University of California, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, funding for two-year project on “International Cooperation and Conflict in Implementing the Law of the Sea.” ($27,000)
1994 Third Annual Katherine Dupre Lumpkin Prize for best dissertation, Dept. of Sociology,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1993 Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellowship in Natural Resource Economics, The Graduate
Division, University of California
RESEARCH INTERESTS: agrifood studies, global political economy, the new philanthropy, political
sociology, social movements, sociology of work. Regional interests: Africa, Latin America.
Current book project
'Markets for the Poor? Development Aid and the New Green Revolution for Africa
(with William Munro)
Publications
Books or Monographs
2010 Rachel Schurman and William Munro, Fighting for the Future of Food: Activists Versus
Agribusiness in the Struggle over Biotechnology (University of Minnesota Press).
Winner of the American Political Science Association's 2011 Lynton Caldwell Prize for
Best Book in Environmental Politics published in the past 3 years.
Honorable mention for the American Sociological Association's 2011 Charles Tilly
Award for best book in Collective Behavior and Social Movements.
2003 Engineering Trouble: Biotechnology and Its Discontents, Rachel Schurman and Dennis
Doyle Takahashi Kelso, editors (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Refereed Journal Articles
2020 Joeva Rock and Rachel Schurman, “Not Too Big to Fail? Theorizing Agricultural
Biotechnology Trajectories in Africa," African Affairs, forthcoming.
2018 R. Schurman, “Micro(soft) managing a ‘green revolution’ for Africa: The new donor
culture and international agricultural development,” World Development Vol. 112 (2018):
pp. 180-192.
2018 R. Aminzade, R. Schurman and F. Lyimo “Circulating Discourses: The Case of
Agricultural Development in Tanzania,” Sociology of Development Vol. 4(1): pp. 70-93.
2017 H. Gengenbach, R. Schurman, T. Bassett, W. Munro & W. Moseley, “Limits of the New
Green Revolution for Africa: Reconceptualising Gendered Agricultural Value Chains,”
The Geographical Journal (first pub’d online, 6 October 2017):1-7.
2016 R. Schurman, 'Building An Alliance For Biotech in Africa,' Journal of Agrarian Change
16(3) May 2016, 1-18.
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2009 R. Schurman and W. Munro, “Targeting Capital: A Cultural Economy Approach to
Understanding the Efficacy of Two Anti-Genetic Engineering Movements,” American
Journal of Sociology 115 (1):155-202.
2006 R. Schurman and W. Munro, “Ideas, Thinkers and Social Networks: The Process of
Grievance Construction in the Anti-Genetic Engineering Movement,” Theory and Society
35 (1): 1-38.
2004 R. Schurman, “Fighting Frankenfoods: Industry Structures and the Efficacy of the Anti-
Biotech Movement in Western Europe,” Social Problems, Vol. 51 (2): 243-268.
2001 R. Schurman, “Uncertain Gains: Labor in Chile’s New Export Sectors,” Latin American
Research Review 36(2): 3-29.
2001 W. Boyd, W.S. Prudham and R. Schurman, “Industrial Dynamics and the Problem of
Nature,” Society and Natural Resources 14: 555-570.
2000 M. Goldman and R. Schurman, “Closing the ‘Great Divide’: New Social Theory on
Society and Nature.” Annual Review of Sociology 16(29): 563-84.
1998 R. Schurman, “Tuna Dreams: Resource Nationalism and the Pacific Islands Tuna
Industry,” Development and Change Vol. 29: 107-136.
1997 R. Schurman, “The Future of Regional Cooperation in a Changing Economic
Environment: The South Pacific Island Countries in the 1990s,” Ocean Development and
International Law 28: 369-403.
1996 R. Schurman, “Snails, Southern Hake and Sustainability: Neoliberalism and Natural
Resource Exports in Chile,” World Development Vol. 14 (11): 1695-1709.
1996 R. Schurman, “Chile's New Entrepreneurs and the 'Economic Miracle': The Invisible
Hand or a Hand From the State?,” Studies in Comparative International Development
Vol. 31 (3): 83-109.
1992 B. Barham, M. Clark, and E. Katz, and R. Schurman, “Non-Traditional Agricultural
Exports in Latin America: Towards an Appraisal,” Latin American Research Review Vol.
27 (2): 43-82.
Non-refereed Journal Articles, Essays, and Book Chapters
2009 W. Munro and R. Schurman, “Chain (Re)actions: Comparing Activist Mobilization
Against Biotechnology in Britain and the U.S.,” in Jennifer Bair, ed., Frontiers in
Commodity Chains Research (Stanford University Press), p. 207-230.
2009 R. Schurman, “Genetically Modified Organisms,” invited entry for the The Palgrave
Dictionary of Transnational History: From The Mid-19th Century To The Present Day,
A. Iriye and P. Saunier, eds. (Palgrave Macmillan).
2009 R. Schurman, “Monsanto,” invited entry for the The Palgrave Dictionary of
Transnational History: From The Mid-19th Century To The Present Day, Akira Iriye and
Pierre-Yves Saunier, eds. (Palgrave Macmillan).
2008 R. Schurman and W. Munro, “Local Activism and the ‘Biotechnology Project’,” in
Reconstructing Biotechnologies: Critical Social Analyses, Guido Ruivenkamp, Shuji
Hisano and Joost Jongerden, eds. (The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers),
p. 59-76.
(Reprinted in Turkish, as Teknoloji ve Toplum: Yikici Bir Direnis ve Yeniden Yapilanma,
published by Kalkedon Yayinlarin, Istanbul (2010): 81-116.)
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2007 W. Munro and R. Schurman, “Sustaining Outrage: Motivating Sensibilities in the U.S.
Anti-GE Movement," in Food Fight: Producers, Consumers, and Activists Challenge the
Global Food System, W. Wright and G. Middendorf, eds. (University Park, PA:
University of Pennsylvania Press), p. 145-176.
2004 R. Schurman, “Shuckers, Sorters, Headers and Gutters: Labor in the Fisheries Sector,” in
Victims of the Chilean Miracle? Workers and Neoliberalism in the Pinochet Era, 1973-
2002, Peter Winn, ed., (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), p. 298-336.
2003 R. Schurman, “Introduction. Biotechnology in the New Millennium,” Chapter 1 in
Engineering Trouble: Biotechnology and Its Discontents (Berkeley: University of
California Press), p. 1-23.
2003 R. Schurman and W. Munro “Making Biotech History: Social Resistance to Agricultural
Biotechnology and the Future of the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry,” Chapter 4 in
Engineering Trouble: Biotechnology and Its Discontents (Berkeley: University of
California Press), p. 111-129.
Book Reviews
2020 "Soybeans and Power: Genetically Modified Crops, Environmental Politics, and
Social Movements in Argentina,” by Pablo Lapegna, New York: Oxford University
Press, 2016. American Journal of Sociology (forthcoming) 2013 “Shadow Space: Suicides and the predicament of Rural India,” by A.R. Vasavi. Journal of Peasant Studies 40(3): 597-601 (July). 2011 “Plenitude,” by Juliet Schor, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 40 (4)(July 2011):485-6. 1996 “The Bay Shrimpers of Texas: Rural Fishermen in a Global Economy,” by Robert
Lee Maril. Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 25 (5) (Sept.): 644-45. 1995 “Overfishing: Causes and Consequences: A Review of the Ecologist’s Special
Issue,” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, Vol. 7 (25) (March): 1 31-137.
Invited Presentations 2020 University of Georgia, “"The Empire Strikes Back: Confronting Opposition to GMOs in
Africa." Dirty History workshop in Agriculture, Environment, and Capitalism, April 2020
(invitation accepted)
2017 Tulane University Sociology Colloquium, “The Gates Foundation & the New Donor
Culture,” March 3, 2017.
2015 Department of International Development Studies Workshop, Dalhousie University,
Halifax, "Can Genetically Modified Crops Help the Poor?" October 2015.
2013 Wesleyan University, “Science for the Poor? Foundations, Firms and the New Green
Revolution for Africa,” October 14, 2013.
2013 Yale Agrarian Studies program, “Managing the Next Green Revolution for Africa,” April
4, 2013.
2012 “Agrifood Studies in the U.S.,” University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain, May.
2011 Virginia Tech, Invited Panelist at Main Session of 2011 Choices and Challenges Forum
“What is Good Food?” October 27.
2011 Workshop in Transnational Sociology, University of Illinois, “Contending Lifeworlds:
Activists vs. Agribusiness in the Biotechnology Battle,” April.
2011 Boston College Department of Sociology Colloquium series, “Fighting for the Future of
Food: Activists vs. Agribusiness in the Struggle over Biotechnology,” March 15.
2010 “Fighting for the Future of Food,” Book reading at the Univ. of Minnesota Bookstore,
November.
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2009 “Targeting Capital: A Cultural Economy Approach to Understanding the Efficacy of Two
Anti-Genetic Engineering Movements, Rural Sociological Society meeting, Madison,
WI, August (special invited panel).
2008 “Contentious Lifeworlds and the Enduring Struggle over Agricultural Biotechnology,”
Invited presentation at the Workshop on Biotech Contentions, Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York, April 25th–26th.
2008 “Sense and Sensibilities: Exploring the Origins of the Global ‘Anti-Biotech’ Movement,”
Institute for Advanced Study, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, October.
2007 “Comparing Activist Mobilization Against Biotechnology in Britain and the U.S.,”
National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India, March 2007, invited lecture.
2007 “The New Biotechnologies and Technological Globalization?” Tailoring
Biotechnologies: Reconstructing Agro-Biotechnologies for Development Conference,
Kyoto, Japan, Nov. 3-4, invited keynote.
2006 “Ideas, Intellectuals, and Social Networks: Constructing a Grievance around Agricultural
Genetic Engineering,” UC-Berkeley Workshop on Environmental Politics, Berkeley, CA,
March 3.
2006 “Chain (Re)actions: Comparing Activist Mobilization Against Biotechnology in Britain
and the U.S.,” Macalester College, September 26.
2005 “Trading Morsels, Growing Hunger, Decimating Nature: Linking Food and Trade to
Development and the Environment Workshop,” Princeton University, February 24-26,
2005 (could not attend but contributed written commentary).
2005 “Targeting Capital: Industry Structures and the Achievements of the Anti-Biotech
Movement in Western Europe,” International Environmental Politics colloquia, Watson
Institute, Brown University.
2005 “Searching for Achilles' Heel: The Anti-GE Movement and the Biotech Industry,” UW-
Madison conference on “GM Crops/Food: The Future of the World Agricultural
Economy?,” invited speaker.
2005 “Searching for Achilles’ Heel: Social Movements and Activist Efficacy in the European
and US Anti-Biotech Movements,” Production Networks and Commodity Chains in the
Global Economy Conference, Yale University, May 13-14, invited paper. 2003 “Targeting Capital: Industry Structures and the Achievements of the Anti-Biotechnology
Movement in Western Europe,” Department of Sociology, University of Oregon. 2003 “Targeting Capital: Industry Structures and the Achievements of the Anti-Biotechnology
Movement in Western Europe,” Contested Urban Futures Conference, Univ. of Minnesota.
2003 Grinnell College, Symposium on Cultural Globalization, “Food and Globalization,” invited keynote.
2002 Guest lecture, Yale University, History 177: Biology and Society in the 21th Century. 2002 Guest lecture, Yale University, Political Science 426: World Food Issues. 2002 “Strategic Biopolitics and Its Impact on the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry,”
Department of Development Studies, Cornell University. 2002 “Monarchs, Monsters, and Mad Scientists: Explaining the Efficacy of the Anti-Biotech
Movement,” Workshop in Agrarian Studies, Yale University. 2002 “Social Resistance to Genetically Engineered Food,” Farming and Eating in New
England: A Weekend Symposium at Yale University, February 1-2. 1999 Invited commentator on “Contested Cropping: Peasant Cotton and the Spaces of Gender
Politics in Northern Cote d’Ivoire” by Thomas Bassett at the “Peasants in Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspective: Landscapes of Identity, Nature, and Power” conference, University of Illinois, April 9-10.
1999 Invited commentator on Victor Bulmer-Thomas, “Economic Performance and the State in Latin America,” at “Liberalization and Its Consequences in Latin America and Eastern Europe: Comparative Perspectives” conference, University of Illinois, April.
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1998 “The Challenge of Sustainable Development in Latin America,” Annual Conference of the Mellon programs in Latin American Sociology, Center for Latin American Studies, Berkeley, February 7-8.
1997 “Social and Economic Effects of the 1980’s Fishing Boom in the Region of the Lakes, Chile,” Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Varas, Chile.
Papers Presented at Professional Meetings, Conferences and Workshops 2019 “The Market Route to Better Nutrition: Gender, Public-Private Partnerships and the new
Green Revolution for Africa (GR4A),” presented at the African Studies Association
Annual meetings, Nov. 19-22, 2019. 2019 “Building an Ideational and Institutional Architecture for the New Green Revolution in
Africa.” Paper presented at conference on Contemporary Issues in Food and Food
Security, organized by the Hungry Cities Partnership and the Commonwealth
Geographical Bureau in Maputo, Mozambique, July 5, 2019 (with W. Munro)
2017 “Strategic Feminism and the Development of a Global Discourse on Women’s
Empowerment in African Agriculture,” presented at the African Studies Association
annual conference, November 16-18, 2017, Chicago.
2017 “Micro(soft) Managing a New Green Revolution for Africa: The Gates Foundation & the
New Donor Culture,” Tulane University Sociology Colloquium, March 3, 2017.
2016 “Building a Biotech Bloc: Challenges: Actor Differences, Compromises and Challenges,”
African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, November.
2016 “The Gates Foundation and the New Donor Culture,” Development Studies conference,
Cornell University, October.
2016 “The New 'Green Revolution' for Africa,” American Sociological Association Annual
Meeting, Seattle.
2014 "Paradoxes of Property: The Rockefeller Foundation and Agricultural Biotechnology for
the Poor", American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
2014 African Studies Association Annual Meeting, November, Indianapolis.
"The Institutional Architecture for the Green Revolution for Africa."
2011 “The New Green Revolution for Africa,” presented at the Rethinking Development
Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. November 10-12.
2011 “Green Revolution 2.0: The Global Food Crisis, the Gates Foundation, and the Project to
Develop African Agriculture,” Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society Annual
meetings, June 9-12, Montana.
2009 “Meeting at the Altar: The Marriage of Bioscience and Business,” American Sociological
Association Annual Meetings, San Francisco, August.
2008 “Targeting Capital: A Cultural Economy Approach to Understanding the Efficacy of Two
Anti-Genetic Engineering Movements,” American Sociological Association Annual
Meetings, Boston, MA, August.
2007 “Targeting Capital: A Cultural Economy Approach to Understanding Movement Efficacy
in Two Anti-Genetic Engineering Movements,” presented at the Collective Behavior and
Social Movements Conference, Hofstra University, New York, August 9-10.
2004 “Intellectuals, Ideology, and Social Networks: The Process of Grievance Construction in
the Anti-Genetic Engineering Movement,” American Sociological Association annual
meeting, August 2004, San Francisco, CA.
2002 "Sustaining Rage: Strategic Capacity and Motivating Sensibilities in the U.S. Anti-
Genetic Engineering Movement", Rural Sociological Association meetings, August,
Chicago.
2002 “Monarchs, Monsters, and Mad Scientists: Explaining the Efficacy of the Anti-
Biotech Movement,” American Sociological Association meetings, Chicago.
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2001 “Monarchs, Monstrosities, and Mad Scientists: Strategic Biopolitics and the
Future of the Biotechnology Industry,” Society for Social Studies of Science,
Cambridge.
2000 “Food Fights: Political Struggles over the Deployment of Genetically Modified
Organisms”, Rural Sociological Association annual meetings, Washington DC.
1996 Panel Chair, Center for Labor Research Conference, “Labor in the Global
Economy, Working in the Americas.”
1995 “Snails, Southern Hake and Sustainability: Neoliberalism and Natural Resource Exports
in Chile,” XIX Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington D.C.
1995 Co-chair of panel, “Environment and Development in Latin America,” XIX Congress of
the Latin American Studies Association, Washington DC.
1994 “Chile's New Entrepreneurs and the ‘Economic Miracle’: The Invisible Hand or
a Hand From the State?,” American Sociological Association Annual Meetings.
1994 “Organización del Trabajo y Precariedad de Empleo e la Nueva Industria Pesquera de
Embalaje en Chile,”, XVIII Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Atlanta
1992 Co-chair of Latin American Studies Association Session, “The Political Economy of
Non-Traditional Exports in Latin America: Social, Economic and Environmental
Impacts,” Los Angeles.
1992 “Squandered Surpluses and Foregone Rents: The Tale of the Fishing Sector Boom in
Southern Chile,” Latin American Studies Association Annual Meetings, Los Angeles.
1992 “The Environmental Impacts of Neoliberal Economic Policies: The Case of the Fishing
Industry in Southern Chile," Fourth North American Symposium on Society and
Resource Management, Madison, Wisconsin.
Membership in Professional Organizations
American Sociological Association
Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (AFHVS)
African Studies Association
Latin American Studies Association (past)
Teaching and Curriculum Development
University of Minnesota
Undergraduate Courses designed and taught
SOC3421W Sociology of Work: Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs HSEM 3036H Giving: Philanthropy, Charity and Power, 3 credit honors seminar GLOS 3215 Supercapitalism: Labor, Consumption and Environment in The New Global
Economy, 3 credits SOC 3613 Stuffed and Starved, 3 credits SOC 4966W Major Projects, 3 credits GLOS 3305 Life For Sale: Global Debates in Science, Society, & Technology, 3 credits GLOS 3900 Political Economy of Financial Crisis: From Nicollet Mall to Wall Street, 1 credit
GLOS 3900 Topics in Global Studies: Global Politics of Eating, 3 credits SOC 3801W Sociological Research Methods, 4 credits HSEM 3090 Honors seminar: The Global Politics of Eating, 3 credits GLOS 4910 From Pineapples to Peace Coffee: The New Political Economy of the Global
Agrofood System, 3 credits GLOS 3981W Major Projects Seminar, 4 credits GLOS 3550V Honors course: Supervised Research Paper
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Graduate Courses designed and taught
DSSC 8890 Food Security and Social Justice (special topics course) SOC 8890 Advanced Research Methods: In-depth Interviewing DSSC 8211 Development Studies & Soc. Change Doctoral Research Workshop SOC 8090 Topics in Sociology: The New Sociology of Food & Agriculture
Institute for Advanced Study Faculty Seminar 2011-2012: “Talking over Food: Thinking about
Food Abundance & Scarcity in the 21st Century
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Undergraduate Courses designed and taught
SOC 280: Social Research Methods, 4 credits SOC 209: Food, Culture and Society, 3 credits SOC 270: Population Problems: The Politics of Hunger and Inequality, 3 credits ENVST 350: Environmental Studies Workshop: Food & Environment, 3 credits Graduate courses designed and taught SOC 422: The New International Political Economy of Agriculture, 3 credits SOC 482: Advanced Topics in Sociology: Theories of Development, 3 credits SOC 482: Production and Work in the Global Economy, 3 credits
University of California-Berkeley
Undergraduate Courses designed and taught
SOC 190: Sociology of the Environment, 3 credits Graduate Courses designed and taught SOC 290: Sociology of the Environment, 3 credits ERG grad seminar: Natural Resources and Regional Development, 3 credits ERG grad seminar: Biotechnology and Society, 3 credits ERG XXX: Social Science Methods, 3 credits
Curriculum Development
2018-2019 Global Studies Curriculum Committee
2013-2016 Global Studies Curriculum Committee
2010-2011 Ad Hoc Task Force on Internationalizing the Curriculum (CLA)
Sustainability Studies Curriculum Committee
2009-2010 Sustainability Studies Curriculum Committee
Ad Hoc Task Force on Internationalizing the Curriculum (CLA)
Ad Hoc Task Force Revisiting Internationalization in CLA
2008-2009 Curriculum Committee Foreign Language Task Force, Ad Hoc Committee (CLA)
Collaborative Efforts and Activities
Institute for Advanced Study, Special Faculty/Graduate Student Seminar, 2011-2012, Talking over
Food: Thinking about Food Abundance & Scarcity in the 21st Century GLOS 3305 Life For Sale: Global Debates in Science, Society, & Technology, 3 credits (co-
taught with Susan Craddock, GWSS)
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ADVISING AND MENTORING
University of Minnesota
Doctoral Students – Chair or Co-Chair Devika Narayan, Ph.D. candidate, dissertation co-advisor
Matt Gunther, Ph.D. candidate, dissertation advisor
Emily Springer, Ph.D. candidate, dissertation co-advisor
Francis Lyimo, Ph.D. candidate, dissertation co-advisor
Aaron Eddens, Ph.D. (2019), “‘Climate-Smart’ Seeds: Race, Science, and Security in the Global
Green Revolution.”
Erik Kojola, Ph.D. 2018, “My Backyard is Your Playground: Struggles over Mining
Development and Conservation in the Minnesota Iron Range.”
Andria Strano, Ph.D. (2017) Forging their Own Way: Queer Identity Politics, Visibility, and
Cultural Change on Minnesota’s Iron Range
Nadine Lehrer, Forestry Department (co-dissertation advisor), “From Competition to National
Security: Policy Change and Policy Stability in the 2008 Farm Bill” (Ph.D. 2008)
Doctoral Committees - Member
Alejandra Diaz, prelim committee (Humphrey student) Tayler Nelson, doctoral candidate
Snigdha Kumar, Ph.D. committee
Joeva Rock, Ph.D. committee (invited outside member, American University, Dept of
Anthropology)
Anuradha Sajjanhar, prelim committee member
Devika Narayan, Ph.D. committee member
Monica Saralampi Jarvi, committee member
Jim Saliba, Ph. D. committee member
Sinan Erensu, Ph. D. prelim and dissertation committee (Ph.D. 2016)
Meg Krausch, Ph.D. committee member (reader), prelim and prospectus (Ph.D. 2013)
Elizabeth Mumia, Conservation Biology, prelim exam committee member (2008)
Tom Buller, Geography department (doctoral qualifying exam), 2005
Jose Peralta, outside Ph.D. committee member, Dept. of Sociology, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign (Ph.D. 2012)
Deborah Smith, “Branding Consent: The Role of Employer Brand in Retail Labor Process
Control” (Ph.D. 2010)
University of Illinois
Emin Adas, Ph.D. advisor, “Profit and the Prophet: Culture and Politics of Islamic Entrepreneurs
in Turkey,” Sociology (Ph.D. 2003)
Serife Genis, “Re-imagining Istanbul: Politics, Class and Culture in a Globalizing City,” Univ. of
Illinois, Univ. of Illinois, Sociology (Ph.D., 2004)
Yildirim Senturk, “Little Manhattan the Shadow of Global Prescriptions: Spatial and Social
Restructuring of the Banking Sector in Istanbul,” Univ. of Illinois, Sociology (Ph.D. 2004)
Samuel Martland, “Constructing Valparaíso: Infrastructure and the Politics of Progress in Chile's
Port, 1840-1918,” Univ. of Illinois, History (Ph. D. 2002)
Dawn Coppin, "Capitalist Pigs: Large-Scale Swine Facilities and the Mutual Construction of
Nature and Society," Univ. of Illinois, Sociology (Ph.D. 2002)
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University of California, Berkeley
W. Scott Prudham, Ph.D. adviser, "Knock on Wood: Nature and the Fictitious Commodity in
Oregon's Douglas-fir Region," Energy and Resources Group (Ph.D. 1999)
Dennis Takahashi Kelso, Ph.D. adviser, "Aquarian Transitions: Technological Change,
Environmental Uncertainty, and Salmon Production on North America's Pacific Coast,"
Energy and Resources Group (Ph.D. 1999)
William Boyd, Ph.D. committee, "New South, New Nature: A Study of Regional
Industrialization," UC-Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group. (Ph.D. 2002)
Paul Sabin, Ph.D. committee, "Petroleum Polity: Law and Politics in the California Oil Economy,
1900-1940," UC-Berkeley, Dept. of History (Ph.D. 2000)
Julie Guthman, Ph.D. committee, "Agrarian Dreams? The Paradox of Organic Farming in
California," UC-Berkeley (Ph.D. 2000)
Dara O’Rourke, Ph.D. committee, "Community Driven Regulation: Environmental Conflicts and
Civil Society in Post-Socialist Vietnam," Univ. of California-Berkeley, Energy and
Resources Group (Ph.D. 1999)
Thomas Sikor, Ph.D. committee, "The Political Economy of Decollectivization: A Study of
Differentiation in and Among Black Thai Villages of Northern Vietnam," UC-Berkeley,
Energy and Resources Group (Ph.D. 1999)
Navroz Dubash, Ph.D. committee, “The Agrarian Question and the Institutionalization of
Groundwater Exchange in Gujarat, India,” UC-Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group
(Ph.D. 1999)
MA Committees Joaquin Contreras, Rita Frerichs, Ann Larson, Christopher Greacen, Malena
Samaniego, David Tecklin, Macarena Gomez-Barris, Simone Pulver, Lesley Barnhorn
Undergraduate Student Activities
Undergraduate Research Projects
Mary Scott, UROP (2010)
Stacy Morrison, 3 credits, independent study, GLOS senior project (2009)
Undergraduate Summa Theses or Honors Projects Directed
2014-2015 Evelyn Reilly, Undergraduate summa cum laude thesis, University Honors
Program thesis advisor, "Negotiating Faith: The Industrialization of Halal Food"
2009-2010: Jessica Clancy, IGS (Honors thesis reader)
Claire Harris, IGS (senior project reader)
Claire Fleming, IGS (senior project reader)
2008-2009: Ellen Frick (Honors student, committee member)
2007-2008: Hajime Miyauchi, independent study, Global Studies
2005-2006: Andrew Lick, IGS (honors advisee, summa cum laude)
Tyler Koppinger, IGS (honors advisee, summa cum laude
Amy Medtlie, IGS (honors advisee, magna cum laude)
Laurel Johnson, IGS (honors advisee, summa cum laude)
Virginia Rodriguez, IGS (honors advisee, summa cum laude)
Service and Public Outreach
2016-18 ASA Council Member, Global & Transnational Sociology section
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2017
2015 Promotion and Tenure reviews for.
ASA Council Member, Global & Transnational Sociology section
ASA Session Organizer for Food and Agriculture Session
Oxford University Press, book proposal review
2014 Oxford University Press, manuscript review; University of Indiana Press,
manuscript review
2012-present Tenure reviews for: Tulane University; Portland State University; Univ of
Maryland; Cornell University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Sociology
Washington State University; University of Toronto; University of San
Francisco.
Editorships/Journal Reviewer Experience
Committee Memberships
2018 Yale University Press, Book manuscript review
2017 American Sociological Association GTS Best Article award committee (Chair)
2015-17 American Sociological Association (ASA), Council Member, Global &
Transnational Sociology; ASA Global & Transnational Sociology Book Prize
Committee member; ASA Food &Agriculture Session organizer
2015 Oxford University Press book proposal review
2013 Book manuscripts reviews: Oxford University Press, Indiana University Press
2002-04 Publications Committee, Rural Sociology
1999-01 Editorial Board, Society and Natural Resources (two terms)
1998-2000 Editorial Board, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism
Regular manuscript reviewer for American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review,
Theory and Society, Social Problems, Social Movement Studies, Rural Sociology, Environmental
Politics, Journal of Agrarian Change, Science as Culture, European Journal of Political Research,
Mobilization, Theory and Society Quarterly, The Sociological Quarterly, Business and Society,
Sociology (Britain), Geoforum, Society and Natural Resources, Economic Geography, Latin
American Research Review, Development and Change, World Development, Environment and
Development Economics, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of
Agrarian Change, Review of African Political Economy, Science and Public Policy, Global
Environmental Politics.
Review panels for external funding agencies, foundations, etc.
National Science Foundation, Ad Hoc reviewer (Sociology), Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada, Social Science Research Council, External screener for the
International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship Program; Grant reviewer for the Foundation
for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen)
Organization of Conferences, Workshops, Panels, Symposia
2017 a) African Studies Initiative, Univ. of Minnesota, African Agricultural Futures
symposium
b) African Studies Initiative, Univ. of Minnesota, Green Revolution for Africa
workshop;
c) Author-meets-critics session on Paul Richards’ “Indigenous Agricultural Revolution
- Three Decades On," African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Chicago IL
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d) “Discourses and Strategies of ‘Women’s Empowerment’ in the New Green
Revolution in Africa: Critical Appraisals,” African Studies Association Annual
Meeting, Chicago
2009-16 Co-organizer, Agrifood Studies reading group, University of Minnesota
2009-10 Food and Farming film series, member of organizing committee, 2009-2010
2007-08 Co-organizer, special lecture series, Life For Sale, with the Science, Society and Health
Collective, UMN.
Fall 2006 Co-organizer, special lecture series, “Alternative Voices in the Middle East.”
Service to the University/College/Department
University-wide Service (University of Minnesota)
2019 Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
African American and African Studies Search Committee
2018 Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
Faculty Advisory Committee, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global
Change (ICGC)
African Studies Initiative (ASI) Advisory Board
2017 Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
University Social Concerns Committee
Faculty Advisory Committee, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global
Change (ICGC)
African Studies Initiative (ASI) Advisory Board
2016 Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
University Social Concerns Committee
Sara Evans Award Selection Committee (ad hoc)
ICGC Food Security Fellowship Selection Committee
2015 Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
University Social Concerns Committee
Sara Evans Award Selection Committee (ad hoc)
ICGC Food Security Fellowship Selection Committee
2014 University Social Concerns Committee
Fulbright interviewing committee, Graduate School Fellowship Office
2010 University Senate
2009 University Senate
UMTC President's Distinguished Faculty Mentor Program
2008 University Senate
UMTC President's Distinguished Faculty Mentor Program
Collegiate Service and Intercollegiate Service 2012-13 Steering Committee, Global Programs and Strategy Alliance (for Global Spotlight)
2010-11 Ad Hoc Task Force on Internationalizing the Curriculum (CLA)
Sustainability Studies Curriculum Committee
Faculty Advisory Committee, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global
Change (ICGC)
2009-10 Sustainability Studies Curriculum Committee
Ad Hoc Task Force on Internationalizing the Curriculum (CLA)
Ad Hoc Task Force Revisiting Internationalization in CLA
2008-09 Curriculum Committee Foreign Language Task Force, Ad Hoc Committee (CLA)
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Faculty Advisory Committee, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global
Change (ICGC)
Department/Unit Service
2019-20 PT&S, Sociology Department; Global Studies Curriculum Committee
2018-19 Diversity Committee, Sociology Department
Curriculum Committee, Global Studies
2017-18 Graduate Admissions and Awards (Spring) Diversity committee (Fall),
2016-17 Undergraduate Affairs, Sociology
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Global Studies
2015-16 Promotion and Tenure committee, Sociology Department;
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Global Studies
2014-15 Director of Undergraduate Studies, Global Studies
Diversity Committee, Sociology Department
Undergraduate Committee, Sociology Department
2011-12 Promotion and Tenure committee, Sociology Department
2010-11 Director of Undergraduate Studies, Institute for Global Studies
Executive Committee, Institute for Global Studies
Sociology Workshop organizer, Sociology Department
Tenure review for faculty member in the Dept. of Forest Resources
2008-09 Director of Undergraduate Studies, Institute for Global Studies
Undergraduate Committee, Department of Sociology
Executive Committee, Institute for Global Studies
2007-08 Graduate Committee, Department of Sociology
Executive Committee (Chair), Institute for Global Studies
Advisory Board Member, Institute for Advanced Study
Interdisciplinary Fellowship Committee, IAS
2006-07 on sabbatical leave
2005-06 Colloquium Series organizer, Global Studies
Faculty Search Committee, Department of Sociology
Curriculum review committee, Global Studies
2004-05 Co-organizer, Sociology Research Institute, University of Minnesota
Service at other Universities or Institutions
University of Illinois
2003-2004 Advisory Committee to the Chair (Sociology Department, UIUC) Transnational
Studies Organizing Committee (Sociology Department, UIUC) Conference
Organizer, Transnational Dynamics and Globalizations, University of Illinois,
April 30-May 1, 2004 Executive Committee, Latin American Studies Center
(College level, UIUC)
2002-2003 Advisory Committee to the Chair (UIUC Sociology Department) Transnational
Studies Organizing Committee (UIUC Soc. Department) Executive Committee,
Latin American Studies Center (College level, UIUC)
2001-2002 (on leave)
2000-2001 Introduction to Sociology Advisory Committee (Chair, Sociology Department);
Advisory Committee to the Chair (UIUC Sociology Department; this is the name
of the department’s Executive Committee); Graduate Admissions Committee
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(Sociology Department); Transnational Studies Organizing Committee
(Sociology Department); Executive Committee, Latin American Studies Center
(College)
1999-2000 Director of Undergraduate Studies (Sociology Department, UIUC); Statistics
Search Committee (Sociology Department, UIUC); Executive Committee, Latin
American Studies Center (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); FLAS
fellowship committee, Latin American Studies Center (College)