“We have to relearn to walk the world as a living being” – quote from Adriana Paredes Pindan in Desgins for the Pluriverse In this book, Arturo Escobar discusses that burning question I’ve had as a graduate student, “Can modernist traditions and institutions be reoriented to enable the emergence of varied, just, sustainable, communal, and autonomous ways of living?” – bluntly put by myself, “Is what we are doing as academics actually helping create different and better worlds

Less is More  by Jason Hickel explores the origins of capitalism, and its pervasive hold on global economic systems. By examining phenomena, such as growthism, cultural hegemony, and the capitalocene, Hickel seeks to bring awareness to the causes of ecological breakdown and shift economies back into balance through the practice of degrowth. Hickel argues that the root of these problems is compounding growth and the need for constant expansion at the expense of everything else

Seeking Spatial Justice  by Edward W. Soja explores space, spatiality and advises readers to reconceptualize space as a concept and what justice looks like from a spatial perspective. This book prompts us to think about what spatial justice is and could look like. However, the book is lacking clarity in answering the main important question: what is spatial justice? The book does invite the reader to conceptualize space differently, and dispels notions such as environmental d

Sara O’Donnell Book Review August 31, 2025   Book Review: Hospicing Modernity   Hospicing Modernity  by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira...

Part intellectual biography and part introduction to critical theory, Grand Hotel Abyss was written by the journalist Stuart Jefferies....

The graduate students I work with and I recently read an intriguing book. Written by Kristen Ghodsee, an expert on Russia and Eastern...

Society Despite the State  by Anthony Ince and Gerónimo Barrera de la Torre is a sharp critique of the logic of the state, a tightly...

The graduate students I have the honor and privilege to work with all contributed an essay to the series What is geography? Over the past...

This is a bit of an esoteric start, but: when I think of geography, I think of Heidegger. Specifically, I think of his 1954 essay...

Geography is a term and a field that covers a lot of ground and as such is a social science that is not universally defined and its...

To me, geography is the study of human-environment relationships over various physical, theoretical, locational, and temporal scales....

I am new to the structured, academic world of geography. I have been, up until very recently, far removed from the collegiate world in...

Even as I enter the second year of my master’s degree in geography, I shy away from the prospect of commenting on my field or its meaning...

Unlike some other disciplines, geography has a bit of an identity crisis. Whenever I tell someone that I am in a geography department,...

I am delighted for Sara O'Donnell to join the lab this fall. Sara hails from Wyoming where she grew up and went to undergrad. She has a...

Diana, Ryan, and I published our latest book, A Climate Agenda for System Change: from Theory to Social Transformation. The book outlines...

Ten years ago, I watched an amazing film. I loved the film then and see it in a different light now. This film showcases cancel culture...

In September of 2019, I facilitated a class about the ecological footprint with 12 Peruvian high school students as part of my...

Lab alum Brendan O'Brien graduated from NAU in Geography a couple years ago. His thesis focused on housing in the west but took a unique...

I am lucky enough to have a wonderful new student in my lab this year. Sydney A (we have two Sydneys now!) comes to NAU from South...