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Michelle J Garvey

Photo of Michelle J Garvey

Contact Me

garv0057@umn.edu


Affiliations

Michelle J. Garvey is a teaching specialist in Gender, Women, & Studies at the University of Minnesota. An interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Garvey teaches courses in GWSS, Sustainability Studies, and English, ranging in such diverse topics as feminist science studies, environmental studies, eco-social justice movements, art theory, popular culture, and public discourse. As an educator, Dr. Garvey employs innovative pedagogical strategies toward self-designed course content to develop students’ critical analysis skills, foster openness to multi-disciplinary epistemologies, and ignite a sense of agency in students as academic-citizens. The overriding concern that propels Dr. Garvey’s research is what types of natures should be created and sustained in response to climate change. Using material feminist theory, environmental justice scholarship, and cutting edge research on novel ecosystems in the Anthropocene, her work investigates the drawbacks and potentialities of ecological restoration. Ultimately, she argues for a justice-oriented approach to repairing and refashioning landscapes so that they may effectively confront the biosocial causes of injustice and environmental degradation.

Educational Background & Specialties

Educational Background

  • Ph.D.: Feminist Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2014.
  • M.A.: Women's Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 2008.
  • B.A.: Philosophy, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, St. Joseph, MN, 2003.

Specialties

  • Feminist Environmentalisms
  • Environmental, Climate, & Food Justice
  • Feminist Science & Technology Studies
  • Material Feminist Theory
  • Politics of Nature
  • Ecological Restoration
  • Queer Ecology
  • Critical Animal Studies
  • Posthumanism
Courses Taught
  • Social Change, Activism, Law, & Policy: Feminist Environmentalisms: Instructor (Fall 2017)
  • Feminist Thought & Theory: Instructor (Fall 2016; Fall 2017)
  • Social Change, Activism, Law, & Policy: Environmental Disparities & Sustainability: Instructor (Spring 2017)
  • Science, Bodies, Technologies: Feminist Environmentalisms: Instructor (Fall 2016)
  • Pop Culture Women: Instructor (Fall 2013; Spring 2016; Spring 2017)
  • Blood, Bodies, and Science: Instructor (Fall 2010; Fall 2011; Spring 2013; Fall 2014; Spring 2016)
  • Engaging Justice: Food Justice: Instructor (Fall 2015)
  • Women & the Arts: Instructor (Fall 2015)
  • Public Discourse: Coming to Terms with the Environment: Instructor (Spring 2015)
  • Science, Bodies, & Technologies: Toxic Trespass: Instructor (Spring 2015)
  • Skin, Sex, and Genes: Instructor (Spring 2014; Spring 2015)
  • Sustainable People, Sustainable Planet: Instructor (Spring 2012)
  • Food Justice: Instructor (St. Olaf 2012 Jterm)
  • Blood, Bodies, and Science: TA (Fall 2012)
  • Sustainable People, Sustainable Planet: TA (Spring 2011)
  • Point Counterpoint: Feminist Debates: TA (Spring, 2010)
  • Skin, Sex, and Genes: TA (Fall, 2009)
  • The Politics of Sex: TA & Section Leader (Spring 2009)
  • Feminist Thought and Theory: TA (Fall, 2008)
Research & Professional Activities

Professional Activities

  • Graduate Representative: GWSS Executive Committee , September 2013 - May 2014
  • Graduate Representative: GWSS Graduate Studies Committee , September 2011 - May 2013
  • Graduate Representative: GWSS Undergraduate Committee , September 2010 - May 2011
  • Member: Feminist Studies Graduate Student Association , September 2009 - Present
  • Member, Conference Organizer: Graduate Interdisciplinary Group in Sexuality Studies , September 2010 - May 2011
  • Member: Graduate Sustainability Education Network , September 2010 - Spring 2011

Research

  • "Bursting Bubbles in Sustainability Education": Institute on the Environment Frontiers Lecture Series April 5, 2017
  • "Epistemological Inoculation in an Era of Misinformation": Teach-In Panel: "Teaching in the Era of 'Alternative Facts'" March 3, 2017
  • "Food Forests for Livable Futures? A food & climate justice perspective" FEASt & ICGC Fall Symposium, University of Minnesota: October 7, 2016:
  • "Ecological Livability in Climate Crisis," GWSS Colloquium Series: November 7, 2014:
  • "Constructing Climate Resilient Natures: Material Feminisms and Ecological Restoration,": Interruptions: Science, Feminisms, Knowledge at UC Berkeley, April 18-19, 2014
  • “Queer Ecology in the Age of Climate Change,” Association of American Geographers Annual Conference : Conference Presentation April 13, 2011
  • “‘For Humans Only’: Violence, Power, and the Posthuman Body in District 9,” Framing the Human Conference, University of Minnesota : Conference Presentation March 6, 2010
  • “Report From Copenhagen: The UN Climate Summit and a Feminist Environmentalist Response,” Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies Department Spring Colloquium Series : Colloquium Presentation February 8, 2010
  • “Feminist Environmentalisms Rewrite the Global Warming Narrative,” Klimaforum People’s Conference/UN COP15 Parallel Summit: Summit Presentation December 12, 2009
  • “Weedy Entanglements in American Environmentalism,” National Women’s Studies Association Conference: Conference Presentation, November 12-15, 2009
  • “Ecologically Queer: Toward Interspecies Communities of Symbiosis,” Northwestern University’s Queertopia Conference : Conference Presentation May 2, 2009
  • “Queering Native Species” University of Connecticut at Storrs, Ecofeminism in a Transnational World Conference : Conference Presentation March 20-21, 2009
  • "Transgressing Boundaries of Kinship Through Ecological Restoration,” Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Women’s and Gender Studies Conference : March 6, 2009
  • “Naturecultures of the Third Millennium,” Biocultures Graduate Conference, University of Chicago, Illinois : Conference Presentation November 16-17, 2007
  • “Nature Constructed: Ecological Restoration and Feminist Theory,” Pacific Southwest Women’s Studies Association Conference: April 13, 2007

Outreach

  • Hiawatha Food Forest Advocate: Fall 2016 - Present
  • Climate Justice Activist: 2009-Present
  • Volunteer: Friends of the Mississippi River, Gorge Stewards Leadership Team: 2010-Present
  • Intern: Women's Environmental Institute, Summer 2009
  • Volunteer: Friends of the Mississippi River: Ecological Restoration, 2006 - 2008
  • Volunteer: Women's Environmental Institute: Community Supported Agriculture, 2005
  • Volunteer: Peace in the Precincts: Convention/Caucus Delegate, 2004 - 2006
  • Corpsmember: EarthCorps/AmeriCorps: Ecological Restoration, 2004 - 2005
Publications
  • "Novel Ecosystems, Familiar Injustices: The Promise of Justice-Oriented Ecological Restoration": Garvey, Michelle, Dark Matter: In the Ruins of Imperial Culture, Special Issue on the Neocolonial Politics of Sustainability , April, 2016.
  • Book Review: Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire: Garvey, Michelle, Signs, 37.4 , 2012.
  • Garvey, Michelle Jenneman. ""Toward Global Feminist Environmental Justice"." Feminist Formations 23.2 (2011):
Awards
  • U-Spatial 2017 Mapping Competition "Best Body of Work" Awarded to GWSS3590: Environmental Disparities Class, May, 2017
  • Institute on the Environment Educators Fellow, Fall 2016 - Spring 2017
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher, Department of Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies, UofM (2014)
  • Graduate Research Partnership Program: U of M, 2009
  • Susan K. Weber Scholarship: Outstanding Graduate Student-SDSU2007-2008
  • Carsten & Wertz Graduate Scholarship, SDSU2007