Dr. Cindy Isenhour
Professor of Anthropology and Climate Change
Ph.D. University of Kentucky, 2010
M.A. Colorado State University, 2001
B.A. Miami University, 1997
Research Topics:
– Economic and environmental anthropology, political ecology.
– Commodity chains, consumption, embodied emissions, climate change.
– Environmental displacement, unequal exchange, environmental justice.
– Global markets, circular economies, reuse, discards, waste.
– Environmental movements, governance and policy.
– Climate mitigation and adaptation policy.
– Global cities and rural resilience.
Professional Interests:
As an ecological and economic anthropologist, I am particularly interested in the cultural construction and contemporary reproduction of linear production-consumption-disposal systems and their associated effects on the environment and climate. Several current research projects examine the market logics and global relations of trade/negotiation that enable uneven accumulation and degradation. Other research projects are focused on policies, practices and social movements intended to shift contemporary economies and consumer culture toward more sustainable forms.
Select Peer Reviewed Publications:
2017 Rachel Shwom, Cindy Isenhour, Aaron McCright, Rebecca Jordan, Jennifer Meta-Robinson. Integrating the Social Sciences to Enhance Climate Literacy. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 15(7):377-384.
2017 Isenhour, Cindy, Andrew Crawley, Brieanne Berry and Jennifer Bonnet. Exploring Maine’s Culture of Reuse and its Potential to Advance Environmental and Economic Policy Objectives. Maine Policy Review 26(1):36-46.
http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol26/iss1/6
2016 Isenhour, Cindy, Jessica O’Reilly and Heather Yocum. Accounting for Climate Change: Measurement, Management, Morality and Myth. Human Ecology 44(6):647-654.
DOI: 10.1007/s10745-016-9866-1
2016 Isenhour, Cindy. Unearthing Human Progress? Ecomodernism and Contrasting Definitions of Technological Progress in the Anthropocene. Economic Anthropology 3(2)315-328.
2016 Isenhour, Cindy, Travis Wagner, Travis Blackmer, Linda Silka, John Peckenham, David Hart & Jean McRae. Moving Up the Waste Hierarchy in Maine: Learning from Best Practice State-Level Policy for Waste Reduction and Recovery. Maine Policy Review 25(1)15-29.
http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol25/iss1/6
2016 Love, Thomas and Cindy Isenhour. Energy and Economy: Recognizing High-Energy Modernity as an Historical Period. Economic Anthropology 3(1):1-18.
2016 Isenhour, Cindy and Kuishuang Feng. Decoupling and Displaced Emissions: On Swedish Consumers, Chinese Producers and Policy to Address the Climate Impact of Consumption. Journal of Cleaner Production 134(a): 320-329. DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.037
2015 Isenhour, Cindy, Melissa Checker & Gary McDonogh. Sustainability in the Global City: Myth and Practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
2015 Isenhour, Cindy. Green Capitals Reconsidered: The Carbon Emissions Associated with Urban Consumption. In Sustainability in the Global City: Myth and Practice. Isenhour, Checker & McDonogh, eds. Cambridge University Press.
2014 Isenhour, Cindy. Trading Fat for Forests: Palm Oil, Tropical Deforestation and Environmental Governance. Conservation & Society 12(3): 257-267.
2014 Peterson, Nicole and Cindy Isenhour. Moving Beyond the Legacy of the Rational Actor in Environmental Governance: An Introduction. Conservation & Society 12(3): 229-232.
2012 Isenhour, Cindy. The Devil in the Deal: Trade-Embedded Emissions and the Durban Platform. Ethics, Policy & Environment Special Issue on Durban Platform 15(3):303-308.
DOE: 10.1080/21550085.2012.730241
2012 Isenhour, Cindy. On the Politics of Climate Knowledge: Sir Giddens, Sweden and the Paradox of Climate (In)Justice. Local Environment 17(9).
DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2012.729570
2012 Isenhour, Cindy. Can Consumer Demand Deliver Sustainable Food?: Recent Research in Sustainable Consumption Policy & Practice. Environment & Society 2(1): 5-28.
2011 McDonogh, Gary, Cindy Isenhour & Melissa Checker. Introduction: Sustainability in the City. City & Society 23(3)113-117.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-744X.2011.01057.x
2011 Isenhour, Cindy. How the Grass Became Greener in the City: Urban Imaginings and Practices of Sustainability. City & Society 23(2):118-138.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-744X.2011.01058.x
2010 Isenhour, Cindy. On Conflicted Swedish Consumers, the Effort to “Stop Shopping” & Neoliberal Environmental Governance. Journal of Consumer Behavior Special Issue on Anti-Consumption and Sustainability 9(6): 454-469.
2010 Isenhour, Cindy. Building Sustainable Societies: A Swedish Case Study on the Limits of Reflexive Modernization. American Ethnologist 37(3):511-525.
Contact:
Phone: 207.581.1895
Fax: 207.581.1823
Email: cynthia.isenhour@maine.edu
Department of Anthropology
University of Maine
5773 S. Stevens Hall, Rm. 102A
Orono, Maine 04469-5773
