Associate Professor of English
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
320H Pillsbury Hall
310 Pillsbury Drive S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612.624.4209
E-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: By appointment
Pronouns: he/him
I study American environmental literature and its relationship to the ideas of nature, culture, and place. I seek to understand the rhetorical strategies and practical effects of literary texts and their creators, particularly with regard to the historical roots of our contemporary environmental values. Most recently, my work has focused on the role of food writing in the sustainable food movement. My scholarship is primarily grounded in the area of literary criticism known as "ecocriticism," but it is also strongly influenced by current work in environmental history, environmental ethics, conservation biology, and food studies. I teach a range of courses that concern the environmental humanities, literary nonfiction writing, and sustainability studies, and I am a past president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). I have also served as a Senior Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Germany, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Turin and University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy, and a Visiting Professor at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France. My latest book, The Farmer, the Gastronome, and the Chef: In Pursuit of the Ideal Meal, will be published by the University of Virginia Press in August 2024.
Learn more about the University of Minnesota's Environmental Humanities Initiative!
Using the tools of the humanities to interpret and address environmental problems.