My background: “My post-secondary school education began at a community college near my childhood home in San Jose, California. A professor there inspired me to pursue a track in the humanities, and I transferred to the University of California Santa Cruz to complete my B.A. and M.A in philosophy. After my master’s I took a break from academia and worked with an environmental nonprofit in the Diné Nation, where I engaged with local schools, hospitals, and families to design gardening and land restoration projects for youth. Inspired by what I’d learned from the land and community, I went back to school at the University of Oregon to complete a doctoral program in environmental sciences, studies, and policy.”
I study: “Broadly speaking, my area of study is in the environmental humanities, which is an interdisciplinary field. Through my specializations within this field, which include work in environmental philosophy, environmental sociology, environmental justice, and environmental policy, I seek to honor the political projects of decolonization and anti-racism by analyzing settler colonialism and the legacy of chattel slavery as social structures of environmental violence and dispossession. My current research project offers an extended analysis (legal, historical, philosophical, and economic) of how the Endangered Species Act functions as a tool of colonial conservation, that is, a policy that conserves colonialism, by establishing settler peoples as the rightful owners and stewards of Indigenous lands.”
This fall I’m teaching: “Introduction to the Environment and Environmental Justice”
What students can expect from me: “Classrooms are a site of learning that can change our lives for the better or for the worse. As such, I try to teach in a reciprocal manner that appreciates the knowledge and skills students already have while challenging them to grow and pursue their interests.”
Environmental sustainability is of paramount concern in the 21st century as society grapples with increasing demand for energy and water, changing climate and land use, and limited resources.