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Eric Sheppard

Eric Sheppard

612-625-5840
Geography 515 Soc Sci
Curriculum Vitae

Department Affiliations

Narrative

I was born in England, growing up in East Anglia, and have been interested in geography for as long as I remember. I took Geography classes 3-5 hours a week from the age of 7 to 16, subsequently specializing in geography, physics and chemistry before enrolling at Bristol University as an undergraduate major in geography. I intended to study geomorphology, but was converted to a human geographer by the brilliant lectures of Peter Haggett. I went to Toronto for just a year (I thought) to get a Masters degree, staying for a Ph.D. I have been in North America ever since, coming to Minnesota in 1976. As a geographer, I have traveled to most regions of the world, including visiting professorships in Britain, Austria, Indonesia and Australia.


Specialties

  • Trade and uneven geographies of globalization
  • geography of economic development
  • The spatial dynamics of capitalism
  • neoliberalism and its contestations
  • Livelihood struggles in the third world
  • geographic information, technologies and society
  • environmental justice in the Twin Cities
  • Urban policy and urban development

Educational Background

  • Ph.D.: Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1976.
  • M.A.: Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1974.

Publications

  • A World of Difference: Encountering and contesting development. Sheppard, Eric, P W Porter, D Faust, R Nagar, Author. Link
  • Contesting Neoliberalism: Urban frontiers. Sheppard, Eric, Helga Leitner, Jamie Peck, Guilford, Co-Editor, 2007. Link
  • Politics and Practice in Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell, Sage, Co-Editor, 2007.
  • Scale and Geographic Inquiry. Sheppard, Eric, Robert B. McMaster, Blackwell, Co-Editor, 2004. Link
  • Reading Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell, Blackwell, Co-Editor, 2003. Link
  • A Companion to Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Basil Blackwell, Author, 2000. Link
  • Capitalism beyond harmonious equilibrium: Mathematics as if human agency mattered: Sheppard, Eric, Environment and Planning A, 41 265-283, 2009.
  • The spatiality of contentious politics: Sheppard, Eric, H Lietner, K. Sziarto, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , NS 33 157-172, 2008.
  • Geographic dialectics?: Sheppard, Eric, Environment and Planning A, 40 2603-2612, 2008.
  • Geography matters: Agency, structures and dynamics: Sheppard, Eric, Paul S Plummer, Journal of Economic Geography, 6 , 2006. Download
  • Constructing free trade: From Manchester boosterism to global management: Sheppard, Eric, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , NS 30 151-172, 2005.
  • Knowledge production through critical GIS: Review and Assessment: Sheppard, Eric, Cartographica, 40 5-22, 2005.
  • Knowledge production through critical GIS: Review and Assessment: Sheppard, Eric, Cartographica, 40 5-22, 2005.
  • The spaces and times of globalization: Sheppard, Eric, Economic Geography, 78 307-330, 2002. Download
  • The city is dead, long live the network: Harnessing networks for a neoliberal urban agenda. Sheppard, Eric, Leitner, H., Author, 2002. Download
  • GIS-based measures of environmental equity: Exploring their sensitivity and significance. Sheppard, Eric, R. McMaster, H. Leitner and H. Tian, 1999.

Research Activities

  • Trade and uneven geographies of globalization: An examination of the emergence of ideas and practices of free trade, and their impact on the spatial dynamics of globalization over the last 200 years, 2002 - 2007
  • Out-of-equilibrium spatial economic dynamics: Development of new methodologies to analyze spatial change when the economy can be represented in terms of complexity theory (with Paul Plummer), 2002 - 2008
  • Contested urban futures: Examination of how the neoliberalization of urban policymaking worldwide is being challenged by social movements, grassroots activities, and state actions (with Helga Leitner), 2004 - 2008

Professional Activities

  • Steering Committee Member: Interdisciplinary Center for Global Change , 2002 - 2007
  • Co-editor, Environment and Planning A: 1998 - present

Outreach Activities

  • Development of an environmental inventory for Phillips Neighborhood (with Helga Leitner and Robert McMaster): university-community research, 1998 - 2000

Awards

  • Honors for Distinguished Scholarship, Association of American Geographers
  • Fesler Lampert Professor (humanities), 2002 - 2004
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2005 - 2006

Courses Taught

  • Geog 1301 - Our Globalizing World
  • Geog 3331 - Geography of the World Economy
  • Geog 3378 - The Third World: Development, Poverty, Possibility
  • Geog 4001 - Modes of Geographic Inquiry
  • Geog 8002 - Proseminar: The Economy, the State, and Spatial Development
  • Geog 8520 - Seminar: GIS and Society
  • Geog 8980 - Contested Urban Futures
  • GEOG 8020 - Economic Geography seminar
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