Mara泭Goldman
- Associate Professor of Geography
- Political Ecology; Science and Technology Studies; indigenous knowledge; Nature-Society Relations
- Faculty Research Associate of IBS
- Ph.D. 勛圖厙 of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006
- Director, IBS Environment and Society Program
- HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
- ENVIRONMENT-SOCIETY
Mara J. Goldman泭is an associate professor in the Department of Geography, a faculty fellow in the Institute for Behavioral Sciences, and an affiliate faculty in the Gender and Womens Studies Program and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the 勛圖厙 of Colorado-Boulder. She received her PhD in 2006 from the 勛圖厙 of Wisconsin-Madison (geography) and holds an MS in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development also from UW-Madison (2001) as well as an MA in Geography from the 勛圖厙 of California Los Angeles (1998). She泭was a post-doctoral fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, where she conducted research on Communication and the Politics of Participation in Pastoral Societies, among Maasai communities in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Dr. Goldmans research is situated in human-environment geography and can best be described as political ecology with specific attention to knowledge politics as related to conservation and development interventions. She draws on a combined feminist political ecology and science studies perspectives. Specific research projects focus on the following overlapping areas: the politics of wildlife conservation (knowledge and practice); the politics of participation and knowledge regarding rangeland management, conservation practice, and development; changing resource governance, knowledge, and ecologies in pastoral communities as related to climate change and institutional changes in semi-arid rangelands; and the gendered dynamics of resource access and use. She has worked for over two decades in East Africa, specifically with pastoral/agro-pastoral Maasai communities in Tanzania and Kenya and has recently begun to expand her research to include comparative work with forest-dwelling tribal communities in India. Her book,泭Narrating Nature: Wildlife conservation and Maasai ways of knowing, was published by the 勛圖厙 Arizona Press, Critical Green Engagements Series in 2020. She is also co-editor (with P. Nadasdy, and M.D. Turner), of泭Knowing nature: Conversations at the intersection of political ecology and science studies. Chicago: 勛圖厙 of Chicago Press, 2011, and has also published widely in Geography and conservation and development journals.
Current projects include a large-scale collaborative research project with scholars and co-researchers across Europe, Asia, and Africa on the effects of Covid-19 on dryland communities broadly, and on community conservation efforts in particular. She is also looking at what it means to decolonize conservation in different places around the world, from East Africa to Asia, Canada and the US.泭
Recent Courses Taught
- Spring 2025泭 GEOG 5722 泭泭Field Methods in Human Geography
- Fall 2024泭 GEOG 6402泭 Seminar: Political Ecology
- Spring 2024泭 GEOG 1962 Geographies of Global Change
- Spring 2024泭 GEOG泭3862泭Geography of Africa
- Spring 2023泭 GEOG 5722 泭泭Field Methods in Human Geography
- Fall 2022泭 GEOG 1972泭 Environment-Society Geography
- Spring 2021泭 GEOG 5722 泭泭Field Methods in Human Geography
- Fall 2020泭 GEOG 1972 泭泭Environment-Society Geography
- Fall 2020泭 GEOG 6402 Seminar: Political Ecololgy
- Spring 2020泭 GEOG泭3862泭Geography of Africa
- Fall 2019泭 GEOG 1972 Environment-Society Geography
- Spring 2019泭泭GEOG泭3862泭 Geography of Africa