Dr James Fraser

Research Overview

I am broadly interested in social and agro-ecological dimensions of smallholder natural resource management in the global humid tropics.

My research covers two different fields:

1. Local agro-ecological knowledge in Amazonian and West African tropical forests

My doctoral (Leverhulme, completed 2009) and post-doctoral (ESRC, completed 2011) research focused on how local people in Brazilian Central Amazonia and the Liberian Upper Guinea Forest of West Africa manage soils, plants, trees and landscapes in the regions that they inhabit.

2. Environmental Justice

My current and future research takes up a more normative stance in two forthcoming projects:

i) What would a just African Green Revolution look like? This project responds to demands from civil society for transdisciplinary research on the relationship between agricultural development and justice in the post war, post-colonial context of northern Mozambique.

ii) Environmental Justice on the Tapajos, Brazilian Amazon: This project looks at the unfolding implications for justice of large-scale development (dams, soy, timber) and indigenous recognition along the Tapajos river in the central Brazilian Amazon.

Teaching:

James contributes to several undergraduate and postgraduate modules and is convener for:

LEC 322 Environment, Society and Politics in Amazonia (taught with Luke Parry & Jos Barlow)

LEC 331 Food and Agriculture in the 21^st Century (taught with Rebecca Whittle & Katerina Psarikidou)

Roles:

James is Part I Director of Studies (with Suzi Illic)

James is the LEC Interdisciplinary Tsar and on the Interdisciplinary PhD Panel

Office Hours:

1-3pm on Monday and Tuesday