Garrett Graddy-Lovelace Provost Associate Professor Environment, Development & Health
- Additional Positions at AU
- Co-Chair, Seed & Farm Policy Working Group, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance
- Degrees
- University of Kentucky, Doctorate of Philosophy, Geography; Harvard Divinity School, Master of Theological Studies; Yale University, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude
- Favorite Spot on Campus
- the new AU Community Garden
- Favorite Place in Washington DC
- the mighty Potomac River
- Bio
- Garrett Graddy-Lovelace researches and teaches agricultural policy and agrarian geography. Her work focuses on domestic and international contexts and impacts of US food and farm policy--from subsidized export dumping and trade, to food aid and geopolitics of hunger, to labor and migration, to intellectual property regimes. Drawing on histories of anti/colonialism and geographies of de/coloniality, she studies crop diversity conservation, bioethics, land claims, and agrarian climate justice mobilizations. This includes community-based research-action with grassroots groups on the Farm Bill (see disparitytoparity.org project and Pointing the Farm Bill toward Racial Justice toolkit). Her forthcoming book, The Power of Seeds & Agricultural Biodiversity Governance, is with M.I.T. Press. She was awarded the inaugural Provost Associate Professor title, the 2022 School of International Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award, and the SIS Excellence in PhD Mentoring Award. Graddy-Lovelace co-founded and co-leads: the Policy Cluster for AU's NSF RECIPES grant on Wasted Food, the School of International Service's Ethnographies of Empire Research Cluster, the nation-wide Agroecology Research-Action Collective, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance's Seed & Farm Policy working group, and is a Faculty Advisor for AU's Antiracist Research & Policy Center, and part of the inaugural Abolition Everywhere Collaboratory.
- See Also
- Pointing the Farm Bill toward Racial Justice - Toolkit
- Farming's Racist Roots
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Fall 2024
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SIS-620 Stds in Global Envirn Politics: Pol Ecol of Food & Agriculture
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SISU-294 Comm Service Learning Project: Environment/Community/Equity
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SISU-294 Comm Service Learning Project: Environment/Community/Equity
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SISU-296 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Environment/Community/Equity
Spring 2025
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SISU-296 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Environment/Community/Equity
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SISU-419 Senior Capstone: Int'l Studies: Food and Agricultural Policy
Partnerships & Affiliations
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Center for Environment, Community & Equity
Associate Director -
Antiracist Research & Policy Center
Faculty Advisor -
Co-founder
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Selected Publications
Book Manuscript
ǰٳdzԲThe Power of Seeds & Politics of Agricultural Biodiversity(M.I.T. Press’s Food, Health & Environment Series)
Peer-reviewed Articles & Peer-reviewed Book Chapters(*=my grad student)
2024 Graddy-Lovelace, G., S. Brock, B. Jain* "Agrarianizing Climate Accords & Discord: Food, Agriculture & Agrarian Movements at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties"Climate & Development. 1-15. Special Issue: "Power & (In)Justice in Glocal Climate Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography of the UNFCCC Process"
2024 Foscetta, A., K. Crespo Treviño, R. Tenney, J. Nazario, G. Graddy-Lovelace, M. Gardner. “Growing Change at the Intersection of Art & Agroecology” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development. Special Issue: “Commentaries from the 2023 Agroecology Summit”
2024 Graddy-Lovelace, G. and Antonio Roman-Alcalá. “Agroecology Beyond the Statist Quo? Re-Transforming Imperial U.S. Agricultural Policy” for Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development. Special Issue: “Commentaries from the 2023 Agroecology Summit”
2024 [Co-author] “A Declaration of Commitments toward Agroecology Pluralities: A Critical Gaze on the 2023 US Agroecology Summit” for Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development. Special Issue: “Commentaries from the 2023 Agroecology Summit” (2024-2860)
2024 Graddy-Lovelace, G. and Malini Ranganathan. “Geopolitical Ecologies for Our Times” Invited Guest Editorial for Political Geography
2023 Graddy-Lovelace, G. “Towards Abolitionist Agrarian Geographies of Kentucky” Environment & Planning E: Nature & Space. Special Issue: “Geographies of Hope in Praxis: Collaboratively Decolonizing Relations and Cultivating Relational Spaces”
2023 Limeberry, V.* and G. Graddy-Lovelace “Data & the Seed: Democratizing Research for Emancipatory Policy & Agrobiodiversity Governance” Droit et Cultures: Revue international interdisciplinaire. Special Issue: “Collaboration in Crop Diversity Management” (Invited) {OA}
2023 Graddy-Lovelace, G., Krikorian, J.*, A. Jewett*, A. Vivekanandan*, K. Stahl*, B. Wilson, I. Shekhar Singh, G. Naylor, P. Naylor, J. Pennick. “Parity as Radical Pragmatism: Centering Farm Justice & Agrarian Expertise in Agricultural Policy” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. Special Issue: “Critical Praxis and Social Imaginary for Sustainable Food Systems”
2023 Walsh, E., S. Muñoz, J. Auerbach, G. Graddy-Lovelace, V. Limeberry*, et al. “Displacement of the Scholar II: Reimagining Institutional Support for PAR Post-Covid” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems {OA}
2022 Graddy-Lovelace, G.“From Obstruction to Decolonization? Contested Sovereignty, the Seed Treaty & Biocultural Rights in the United States & Beyond” ForBiocultural Rights and Community Protocols: Protecting and Promoting Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ Ways of Life. Eds. F. Girard, I. Hall, G. Filoche, C. Frisson.
2022 Auerbach, J., S. Muñoz, G. Graddy-Lovelace, V. Limeberry* et al. “Displacement of the Scholar? Participatory Action Research under COVID-19 and a Re-imagining of University Support” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
2021Graddy-Lovelace, G. and Patti Naylor. “Disparity to Parity to Solidarity: Balancing the Scales of Agricultural Policy for Justice & Viability” for Development. Special Issue “Resetting Power in Global Food Governance: The United Nations Food Systems Summit”
2021Graddy-Lovelace, G. “Seeking (Food) Sovereignty Beyond the State? Limits of Liberalism & Neoliberalism in International Anti-Hunger Advocacy” A Review of M. Jurkovich’sFeeding the Hungry: Advocacy and Blame in the Global Fight Against Hunger. InH-Diplo(H-Net network for Diplomatic History, International Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Peacekeeping Studies, Nuclear History and Policy Studies, and Transnational Studies)
2021 Graddy-Lovelace, G.“Leveraging Law & Life: Criminalization of Agrarian Movements & the Escazú Agreement” ForOur Hyper-Extractive Age: Expressions of Violence and Resistance.Routledge Press. Eds. J. Shapiro and J.A. McNeish
2021Montenegro, M., A. Iles, A. Shattuck,G. Graddy-Lovelace, J. Chappell, A. Roman-Alcalá. “Getting our House in Order: Principles for accountable food systems research from the Agroecology Research-Action Collective”Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development
2020 Graddy-Lovelace, G. “Re-Orienting Policy for Growing Food to Nourish Communities”\ Agriculture & Human Values. Special collection: “Agriculture, Food & Covid-19” 29 April. 37(3): 623-625
2020Graddy-Lovelace, G.“Farmer & Non-Farmer Responsibility to Each Other: Negotiating the Social Contracts & Public Good of Agriculture”Journal of Rural Studies
2020Graddy-Lovelace, G.“Attending to Plants: Crop Diversity Pre-Breeding Technologies as Agrarian Care Co-opted?”Area. Special issue: “Limits & Topologies of Care” 52(2): 235-243DOI:10.1111/area.12499 [published online in 2018]
2020 M. Edelman, G. Graddy-Lovelace, and A. Roman-Alcalá. “Emancipatory Politics & Authoritarianism in Rural United States” Journal of Rural Studies. Special Issue Introduction: “Emancipatory Politics & Authoritarian Populism in Rural United States”
2020 Graddy-Lovelace, G., A. Diamond and N. Ichikawa. “Contextualizing the Farm Bill: Questions of Agricultural Governance” Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems (formerly American Journal of Alternative Agriculture). Special Issue Introduction: “U.S. Farm Bill: Policy, Politics & Potential”
2020 Graddy-Lovelace, G. “Garden Griot & Freedom Farming” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development. Special Issue Introduction: “Reflections on Monica White’s Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance & the Black Freedom Movement”
2019Graddy-Lovelace, G.“U.S. Farm Policy as Fraught Populism: Tracing the Scalar Tensions of Nationalist Agricultural Governance”Annals of American Association of Geographers. Special issue: “Environmental Governance in a Populist/Authoritarian Era” 109(2): 1-17.
-Republished in (2019)Environmental Governance in a Populist/Authoritarian Era, ed. J. McCarthy. Routledge Press. ISBN:978-0-367-34653-9
2019Fagundes*, C., J. Mleczko*, L. Picciano, W. Tillman,G. Graddy-Lovelace, S. Schwier*, F. Hall*, and T. Watson* “Ecological Costs of Discrimination:Red Cedar, Racism & Resilience in Farm Bill Conservation Policy in Oklahoma”Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems. Special Issue: “U.S. Farm Bill: Policy, Politics & Potential” 1-15.
2019Graddy-Lovelace, G.“Scales of Reference and Reckoning”Antipode. Special Forum Intervention: “Streams into Rivers of Justice: Radical Geographies of Ecology & Spirit” {OA}
2018Fernández, M., J. Williams, G. Figueroa*,G. Graddy-Lovelace, M. Machado, L. Vásquez, N. Pérez, L. Casimiro, G. Romero, and F. Funes Aguilar. “New Opportunities, New Challenges: Harnessing Cuba’s Advances in Sustainable Agriculture under Normalizing Relations”Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Forum: “Cuba’s Agri-Food System in Transition” 6:76. [With Spanish translation, in same special issue] {OA}
2018Orozco, A*., A. Ward*, andG. Graddy-Lovelace. “Documenting USDA Discrimination: Community-Based Research on Farm Policy & Land Justice”ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies.17(4): 999-1023{OA}
2018Graddy-Lovelace, G.“United States-Cuba Agricultural Relations & Agrarian Questions”Journal of Agrarian Change.18(1): 43-66 [published online in 2016]
2017Graddy-Lovelace, G.“Latent Alliances: The Women’s March & Agrarian Feminism as Opportunities of & for Political Ecology”Gender, Place & Culture. Special issue:“Emergent Spaces in the Women’sMarch: Intersectionality & Inclusion” 24(5): 674-695
2017Graddy-Lovelace, G.and A. Diamond. “From Supply Management to Agricultural Subsidies— and Back Again? US Farm Bill & Agrarian (In)Viability”Journal of Rural Studies. 50: 70-83
2017Graddy-Lovelace, G.“The Coloniality of US Agricultural Policy: Articulating Agrarian (In)Justice”Journal of Peasant Studies.44:1, 78-99[published online in 2016]
- Selected forKelly, R., et al (2020).An annotated bibliography on structural racism present in the U.S. food system(8th ed.). Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.
- Selected forJournal of Peasant Studies’2017 compilation “Rural Topical Issues: Critical Perspectives on Rural Politics & Development
2016Iles, A.,G.Graddy-Lovelace, M. Montenegro, and R. Galt. “Agricultural Systems: Co-Producing Knowledge and Food” InThe Science and Technology Studies Handbook,4thedition, eds. U. Felt, C. Miller. M.I.T. Press. Pp 943-972.
2016Graddy-Lovelace, G., A. Harnish, and J. Hazelwood. “World Is Burning, Sky Is Falling, All Hands on Deck: Reflections on Action-Oriented Socio-Environmental Scholarship” InThe Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture & Sustainable Living, 2ndedition, eds. N. Haenn, R. Wilk, A. Harnish. New York University Press. Pp 445-481.
2014Graddy, T.G.“Situatingin situ: A Critical Geography of Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation in the Peruvian Andes & Beyond”Antipode. 46(2): 426-454.
2013Graddy, T.G.“Regarding Biocultural Heritage:in situPolitical Ecology of Agricultural Biodiversity in the Peruvian Andes”Agriculture & Human Values. 30(4): 587-604.
Guest Editor, Journal Themed Issues
2023- Editorial Collective (V. Limeberry*, M. Montenegro, D. Luna-Gonzalez, M. Cely-Santos, A. Keleman, G. Graddy-Lovelace, K. Zimmerer,) “Agrobiodiversity Nourishes Us/La Agrobiodiversidad Nos Nutre: Research-Action for Agroecological Transformations” Bilingual special feature for Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.
2020 Roman-Alcalá, A.,G. Graddy-Lovelace, and M. Edelman (editors) “Emancipatory Politics & Authoritarian Populism in Rural United States”Journal of Rural Studies
2020G. Graddy-Lovelace(editor) “Freedom Farmers:Agricultural Resistance & the Black Freedom Movement– Collected Commentaries”Journal of Food, Community Agriculture & Sustainable Development{OA}
2020Graddy-Lovelace, G., A. Diamond and N. Ichikawa (editors) “The United StatesFarm Bill: Policy, Politics & Potential”Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems(formerlyAmerican Journal of Alternative Agriculture) {OA}
Work In Progress
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
2024 Inaugural Innovative Teaching Award, AU School of International Service
2022Excellent in PhD Mentoring Award, AU School of International Service
2022Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award, AU School of International Service’s
2022Awarded American University’s campus-wide Inaugural Provost Associate Award
2022School of International Service’s Nominee for AU-wide ‘Excellence in Teaching – Tenure Track’ Award
2020 William Cromwell Award for Outstanding Teaching, School of International Service, AU
2018 Winner of the Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic’s Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award in the private institution category
2018 Practicum Featured as First for Environmental Engagement, Building Just Communities, Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic 2018 Report
2014 William M. LeoGrande Award for best article or book in Latin American or Latino Studies at American University (for Antipode article)
2010 Provost’s Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Kentucky
2009 College of Arts & Sciences Certificate of Outstanding Teaching, University of Kentucky
2008 Latin America Specialty Group Field Study Award, Association of American Geographers
2007 Dissertation Enhancement Award, Graduate School, University of Kentucky
2007 James S. Brown Graduate Research in Appalachia Award, University of Kentucky
2004-7 Multi-Year Fellowship, Graduate School, University of Kentucky
2004-7 Daniel Reedy Quality Achievement Award, Graduate School, University of Kentucky
2002-2004 Harvard Divinity School Merit Scholarship (covering full tuition)
Professional Presentations
Invited Presentations of Research & Workshops (since 2020)
2024Invited colloquium speaker (regarding starvation of Gaza and Palestinian food/landsovereignty), George Mason University (September)
2024Invited colloquium speaker, Geography Department, University of Kentucky (September)
2024“Fire Next Time: Farm Bill Series” International Impacts of Farm Billinterview - part II, Antiracist Research & Policy Center
2024Keynote Speaker Invitation (regarding international relevance of US Farm Bill), AmericanCouncils for International Education, US State Department
2024Invited speaker (on Farm Bill), Montgomery County Food Policy Council
2024“Fire Next Time: Farm Bill Series” Racial Justice & Farm Bill interview - part I, Antiracist Research& Policy Center
2024Invited speaker in Seed Ethics track, inaugural Ira Wallace Seed School, UjamaaCooperative Farming Alliance
2024Invited speaker for panel on Public Health Crisis in Palestine,Health Behavior Department, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina atChapelHill
2024Workshop presentation, “The Starvation of Gaza and the Palestinian Struggle for Food, Land & Seed Sovereignty & Survival” Agroecology Working Group, Environment Development & Health, SIS, AU
2024Colloquium presentation, “The Power of Seeds & Agricultural Biodiversity Governance,” Plant Pathology Speaker Series, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
2023‘The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza’ Panel, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School ofPublic Health (virtual)
2023Presentation “A History & Introduction to the Farm Bill” for Sierra Club Kentucky’s Annual Gathering, Rough River Dam State Park, KY
2023Presentation “Introducing the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance Seed & Farm PolicyWorking Group,” for UCFA Fall 2023 Convening, Accokeek, MD
2023Presentation “A History & Introduction to the Farm Bill,” for Sierra Club’s‘Building a Better Farm Bill’ Fly-In, DC
2023Keynote, Meridian House Library Conference on ‘Best Practices to Improve Food Security,’ DC
2023 “Building a Roadmap for Agroecology at the US Department of Agriculture,” National Institute for Food & Agriculture, USDA, Kansas City, MO
2023 International Workshop, “Respecting Seeds: An Exploration into Saving Ethics and the Politics of Care in Gardens, Farms and Banks,” University of Cambridge, Great Britain - European Research Council’s SeedsValue project, with Key Botanical Gardens
2023 “Farm Bill Strategies” Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance Spring Convening, Berea, Kentucky
2023 “Farm Bill 101” Montgomery County Food Policy Council, Maryland
2023 Panelist, “Importance of the Farm Bill: A Conversation with Professor Graddy-Lovelace” Program on Environmental & Energy Law, AU Washington College of Law
2023 Co-keynote “Geopolitical Ecology & Agroecology” for Global Environmental Politics Alumni Network’s symposium (with Malini Ranganathan)
2023 Inaugural co-presenter, “Geopolitical Ecology & Agroecology” for UTFORSK NMBU-AU GEP Colloquium Series (with Malini Ranganathan)
2023 “Geopolitical Ecologies” Workshop – Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway)
2022 “Experiential Learning at American University: From the Lens of the Professor” at the inaugural, annual conference ‘AU & Beyond: Where Education Meets Experience’
2022 Presenter, “Power of Seeds & Agricultural Biodiversity Policy” for National Organic Farmers Association-New Jersey annual conference, alongside Winona LaDuke, Raj Patel, Karen Washington, Senator Cory Booker and others
2022 Panelist, “Agrobiodiversity & Agrarian Viability: Groundwork for Climate Justice & Survival” for Organic Seed Growers Conference
2021 Featured discussant, 2021 Al-Moumin Award for Environmental Peacebuilding Award Honoring Patricia Gualinga
2021 panelist: ”Advancing opportunities for US-Cuba engagement on agroecology and climate resilience” for Trends and Perspectives of Cuba-US Relations, Center for Research for International Politics and Raul Roa Garcia Higher Institute of International Relations, Havana, Cuba
2021 co-lead, “Disparity to Parity to Solidarity: Indian Farmers Uprising & US Agrarian Movements in Dialogue,” Civil Society Mechanism’s global multimedia boycott mobilization against the United Nations Food System Summit
2021 Invited instructor, Intensive Political Ecology PhD Summer Course, “Liberalism, Land & Liberation: Learning from Black, Indigenous & Anticolonial Feminist Agrarian Analyses,” at Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
2021 Presenter on USDA & Racism, for inaugural Ky Cooperative Extension Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Certificate Course, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food & Environment
2021 panelist, “Assessing the United Nations' HLPE Report #15: ‘Food Security and Nutrition: Building a Global Narrative Towards 2030’” AAG (Virtual)
Grants and Sponsored Research
2024Co-PI, Platform for Agriculture & Climate Transformations (PACT) grant, for Pointing the Farm Bill toward Racial Justice Multimedia Toolkit and Website, through Antiracist Research & Policy Center ($35,000)
2024Co-PI, Antipode Foundation Right to the Discipline Award, for “Palestinian Landscapes & Liberatory Ecologies” Autumn Workshop Project ($10,000)
2023 “US Farm Justice Movement & Agricultural Parity Policy: History & Geographies of US-India Agricultural Relations,” School of International Service’s AY 2023-24 Dean’s Research Awards ($4,800)
2023 “Transformational Farm Bill” Award ($100,000) awarded to Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance’s Seed & Farm Bill Policy Team (coPI)
2023 Led fundraising campaign for Pointing the Farm Bill toward Racial Justice Summit:
- Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation (PACT) ($50,000)
- American University Provost’s Office ($40,000)
- AU SIS Dean’s Office ($20,000)
- Regenerative Agriculture Fund ($15,000)
- Carbon180 ($15,000)
- Johns Hopkins University Center for Livable Future ($5,000)
- UC Berkeley Food Institute ($15,000)
- AU Vice Provost of Research Office ($1,500)
- Natural Resource & Defense Council
- National Wildlife Fund ($500)
2023-2026 Scholar-Participant, UTFORSK Grant, Noragric/NMBU (Norway) & AU SIS-Global Environmental Politics Partnership in Education and Research on Geopolitical Ecology ($356,982) (UTF-2021/10105)
2022 AU SIS Faculty Exceptional Research Award, to conduct research at UNFCCC COP27 global climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt ($2,400)
2021-2023 Principal Investigator, “Contemplative Environmental Mentoring Communities” Think Tank Grant, Mind & Life Institute
2021-2025 Senior Personnel and Policy Cluster Co-Chair, “SRS RN: Multiscale RECIPES (Resilient, Equitable, and Circular Innovations with Partnership and Education Synergies) for Sustainable Food Systems” National Science Foundation ($15,000,000)
2018-2021 Co-Principal Investigator for “” National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Pursuit, National Science Foundation (NSF) DBI-1639145 ($92,000)
2020Funding granted by GRACE Communications Foundation, for “Disparity to Parity: Updating Fair Prices & Supply Management for Farm Justice, Racial Equity & Climate Resilience” project, website, and policy report editing, design, and publication (disparitytoparity.org)
2019 Faculty Research Support Grant, American University, Vice Provost’s Office for “Mapping (Agrobio)Diverse Pathways to Nourishment: Focus Groups for Shared Analysis of Data Synthesis Regarding Agricultural Biodiversity for Food Security & Nutrition” ($10,000)
2018 Awarded Institute for Human Geography Small Research Fund for “Radical food geographies: Connecting knowledges, cultivating practices, (re)imagining governance” pre-AAG meeting ($5,000)
2017 School of International Service Dean’s Summer Research Award: “Cultivating Dialogue:A History, Geography & Policy Analysis of U.S.-Cuban Agrarian Cooperatives’ Collaboration” ($4,700)
2017 Berkeley Food Institute, University of California-Berkeley. Co-sponsored “US Farm Bill 2018: Politics, Policy & Potential” Symposium at AU SIS ($21,000)
2016 Christopher Reynolds Foundation Grant (through Center for Latin American & Latino Studies) to organize workshop and panel: “Cultivating Dialogue: A Comparative, Participatory Analysis of U.S. & Cuban Agricultural Cooperative Policies” ($4,000)