Bear Project
While my career has focused on the humanitarian impact of weapons, my latest research considers the politics of human-bear interactions. I'm intrigued how our relationship with predator animals reveals feelings about security, risk, the more-than-human world, and other ways of being sovereign.
Is Bear Country a Country?
Imagining more-than-human theory of International Relations
Ursobotany 101
Learning plant wisdom from bears, with Robin Wall Kimmerer and Tusha Yakovleva
The Social Life of Arctic Grizzlies
Grizzly bears resist encroachment into their habitat, but can be partners in conservation
My Story
I am Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies at Pace University, New York City. I'm a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) team awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. My work has focused on addressing the ongoing environmental harm in communities affected by nuclear weapons testing and production.
Living as an aid worker in landmine-affected communities – in Bosnia and Iraq in the early 2000s – compelled me to study and resist the humanitarian and environmental effects of weapons. Later experiences in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Fiji, Haiti, Laos, Kenya, Kiribati, Maohi Nui/French Polynesia, Uganda, Vietnam, Sudan and South Sudan motivated my participation in global campaigns on landmines, cluster munitions, killer robots, drones, the arms trade and nuclear weapons. I've worked with UNICEF and UNDP programs on landmines, a UNODA education project and on Control Arms' information and analysis team during the 2012-2013 Arms Trade Treaty negotiations.
My recent research focuses on environmental questions, including wildlife conservation and the role of islands in global politics.
My PhD in Government and Master's in Development Studies are from the London School of Economics. I have a Master's in Environmental Studies from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry. I was awarded honorary doctorates by Middlebury College and Graceland University. I hold a New York State Guiding License in hiking and camping (badge no. 9974).
My spouse, Emily Welty, and I live in Rockaway Beach NYC. I am Deaf/Hard of Hearing. I use he/him/his pronouns.
I am represented by literary agent Jessica Papin of Dystel Goderich & Bourret LLC.
Reviews
Matthew Bolton ... emphasizes the role of civil society to show how when ordinary people work together they can achieve extraordinary impact.
JODY WILLIAMS
1997 Nobel Peace Prize Co-Laureate
I live and work on the unceded land of the Lenape people, Lenapehoking. I acknowledge the Lenape community, their elders past, present and emerging. This acknowledgement is part of my commitment to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and white supremacy. To learn more about the Lenape people and Lenapehoking, visit https://thelenapecenter.com