Andrew biro
Andrew Biro
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Political Ecology and Environmental Political Theory
(updated May 2009)
Contact
Dept. of Political Science
Acadia University
Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6
(902) 542-2168
(902) 585-1070 (fax)
E-mail:
Academic Employment
2008 - . Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Acadia University
2002 - 2008. Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Acadia University
2001-2002. Post-Doctoral Research Associate, “The Globalism Project”, Dept. of Political Science, University of Toronto
2001. Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, York University
2000-2001. Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, University of Western Ontario
1998. Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, York University
1993-1999. Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Political Science, York University
Education
Ph.D.York University, Political Science (2000)
Dissertation Title: Denaturalizing Ecological Politics: ‘Alienation from Nature’ from Rousseau to Marcuse.
Major Field: Political TheoryMinor Field: Comparative Politics
M.A. York University, Political Science (1993)
B.A. University of Toronto, Political Science & History (1991)
Publications
Books and Special Journal Issues
Denaturalizing Ecological Politics: ‘Alienation from Nature’ from Rousseau to the Frankfurt School and Beyond (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005)
“Symposium on Political Ecology of the Semi-periphery” (co-edited with Josée Johnston), special issue of Capitalism Nature Socialism Vol.14, No.4 – Vol.15, No.1 (Dec. 2003 – Mar. 2004)
Journal Articles
2009. “Lost in the Supermarket: The Corporate-Organic Foodscape and the Struggle for Food Democracy” (co-authored with Josée Johnston and Norah McKendrick), AntipodeVol.41, No.3, 509-32.
2008. “Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management: The Importance of Cross-scale Considerations and Local Conditions in Ontario and Nova Scotia” (co-authored with Laura Cervoni and Karen Beazley),Canadian Water Resources Journal Vol.33, No.4, 1-18.
2007. “Water Politics and the Construction of Scale.” Studies in Political Economy No.80, 9-30.
2006. “Simulating a Mass Election in the Classroom.” E-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology Vol.9, No.2
2006. “Human Needs and the Crisis of the Subject.” Theory & Event Vol.9, No.4
2003. “Towards a Denaturalized Ecological Politics.” Polity, Vol.35, No.2, 195-212.
2002. “Wet Dreams: Ideology and the Debates over Canadian Water Exports.” Capitalism, Nature Socialism, Vol.13, No.4, 29-50.
2000. “Ecology.” Public, No. 19, 53-57.
2000. “Sites/Cities of Resistance: Approaching Ecological Socialism in Canada.” (Co-authored with Roger Keil for the Toronto Editorial Group), in Capitalism, Nature Socialism, Vol.11, No.4, 83-102.
1999. “The Usual Subjects: Labor, Justice and Postmodernity in The Usual Suspects.” (Co-authored with Steven Hayward) Rethinking Marxism, Vol.11, No.3, 90-103.
1998. “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Media Coverage of the Montréal and Hebron Massacres.” Problématique, No. 5, 19-40.
Book Chapters
Forthcoming.“¿Pensar Localmente, Comprar Globalmente? Productos Orgánicos Corporativos y el Fetichismo de Lugar” (co-authored with Josée Johnston and Norah McKendrick; trans. H. Munoz), in La política ambiental en la Región de América del Norte, ed. H. Munoz and C. Costero, (San Luis Potosí, Mexico: El Colegio de San Luis and CONACYT).
2007. “Adorno and Ecology,” in Donald Burke, Kathy Kiloh, Michael Palamarek, and Jonathan Short (eds.), Adorno and the Need in Thinking: New Critical Essays. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 345-61.
2006. “Half-empty or Half-full? Water Politics and the Canadian National Imaginary,” in Karen Bakker (ed.), Eau Canada: Governing Canada’s Waters (Toronto: University of British Columbia Press), 321-33.
2006. “Wet Dreams: Ideology and Debates over Canadian Water Exports,” in Mike Gismondi, James Goodman and Josée Johnston (eds.), Nature’s Revenge: Reclaiming Sustainability in an Age of Ecological Exhaustion. (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press), 97-115.
2002. “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Tony Soprano.” (Co-authored with Steven Hayward), in David Lavery (ed.), This Thing of Ours: Investigating The Sopranos. London & New York: Wallflower/ Columbia University Press, 203-14.
Book Reviews
2008 (forthcoming). Review of Andrew Dobson and Robyn Eckersley (eds.), Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge in Environments Vol.35, No.2.
2008. Review ofMichael Egan, Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival in Organization and Environment Vol.22, No.1, 123-25.
2004. “Theory Matters” (Review essay of Peter Hay, Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought, John M. Meyer, Political Nature, and Ben A. Minteer and Bob Pepperman Taylor (eds.), Democracy and the Claims of Nature), in Alternatives Vol.30, No.1, 46-48.
2003. Review of Jonathan Hughes, Ecology and Historical Materialism, in Environmental Ethics, Vol.25, No.1, 109-10.
2002. Review of William A. Shutkin, The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, in Environmental Ethics,Vol.24, No.1, 93-96.
1997. Review of Clifford Orwin and Nathan Tarcov (eds.), The Legacy of Rousseau, in Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 30, No.4, 788-89.
Other Publications
2008. “Repaying Debt Might Not Be Best Use of Offshore Money” (co-authored with Christine Saulnier), Halifax Chronicle-Herald (July 19).
2008. “Nova Scotia’s Fiscal Situation: Reflecting on Government Priorities, Proposing Alternatives,” Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia [institutionally authored report; ten contributors].
2007. “Water Wars: Myths and Realities,” The Globalist (Aug. 15-16); reprinted in Current No.496 (Oct.2007), pp.5-7.
2007. “La Guerre de l’eau: Mythes, réalités, et conséquences canadienne,” Le Multilatéral. (May-June)
2007. “Lost in the Supermarket: Can Shopping Make the Food System Sustainable?” (co-authored with Josée Johnston), in Synthesis/ Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought special issue on “Less Energy,” (Winter), pp.22-25.
2004. “Sustainable Communities: A View from Wolfville, NS.” (Co-authored with Leon De Vreede), in Canadian Dimension (July-August).
2004. “The Political Ecology of the Semi-periphery (Part 2): Editors’ Introduction.” (Co-authored with Josée Johnston), in Capitalism, Nature Socialism (Mar. 2004), 39-41.
2003. “The Political Ecology of the Semi-periphery (Part 1): Editors’ Introduction.” (Co-authored with Josée Johnston), in Capitalism, Nature Socialism, Vol.14, No.4, 64-70.
Conference Presentations
Mar. 2009. Discussant, panel on “Theorizing Urban Environments” at Western Political Science Association, Vancouver, BC.
Oct. 2008. Discussant, panel on “Image(s) and Substance: Representing the Social, Cultural, and Political” at Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association, Halifax, NS.
Oct. 2008. Chair, “Roundtable: Proposing Policy Alternatives: The Democratizing Role of the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia” at Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association, Halifax, NS.
June 2008. Chair, Discussant, and panel co-organizer, “Water Governance” at the Canadian Political Science Association, Vancouver, BC.
May 2008. “‘Enlightenment Reverts to Mythology’: Climate Porn and the Death of Environmentalism” at Philosophy and the Social Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
Mar. 2008. “Sex and Death: Revisiting Adorno’s Culture Industry Thesis in Light of ‘Climate Porn.’” Presented at the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, CA.
Mar.2008. Discussant, “Reading Nature,” panel at the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, CA.
Mar. 2007. “Greening Sheldon Wolin: Limits and Vision, or Environmental Political Theory as a Vocation.” Presented at the Western Political Science Association, Las Vegas, NV.
Mar. 2007. “Water Wars by Other Means: Virtual Water and Global Economic Restructuring.” Presented at the International Studies Association, Chicago, IL.
Jan. 2007. “Organic Foodscapes and the Corporate Selling of Place.”Presented (with Josée Johnston) at Social Research in Organic Agriculture, Guelph, ON.
Oct. 2006. “Revisiting the Culture Industry Thesis: Postmodern Capitalism and Overconsumption” at Critical Ecologies: The Frankfurt School and Environmental Politics in the 21st Century, Wolfville, NS.
June 2006. “Think Local, Buy Global? Corporate Organics and the Fetishism of Place.” Presented at the Canadian Communications Association, Toronto, ON.
June 2006. “Social Insecurity and Environmental Politics.” Presented at the meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Toronto, ON.
June 2006. Chair and panel organizer, “Political Economy, Private Property, and Environmental Politics.” Panel at the meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Toronto, ON.
Mar. 2006. “Denaturalizing Ecological Politics.” “New Books in Environmental Political Theory panelat the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Albequerque, NM.
Mar. 2006. Discussant, “Human and Non-human in Environmental Theory: Bodies, Animals, and Others.” Panelat the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Albequerque, NM.
Mar. 2006. “Social Insecurity and Environmental Politics.” Presented at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Albequerque, NM.
Oct. 2005. “Towards a Political Economy of Virtual Water.” Presented at the meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association, Antigonish, NS.
Sept. 2005. “‘If I Want Water, I'll Ask for Water!’: Virtual Water Exports and American Empire.” Presented at Resisting the Empire: Challenges to US power, Edmonton, AB.
July 2005. Chair, “World Order, Imperialism, and Global Ecological Politics: Continental Integration and Transnational Water Politics.” Panel at the Capitalism, Nature, Socialism Anniversary Conference: Ecology, Imperialism and the Contradictions of Capitalism. Toronto, ON.
May 2005. “Water Commons: Local or Global?” Presented at Fresh and Salt: Water, Borders and Commons in Australia and Asia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Apr. 2005. “Water politics in North America.” Presented at the meeting of the Globalism Project, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Apr. 2005. “Consumerism, Sustainability and the Crisis of the Subject.” Presented at Other Worlds: Social Movements and the Making of Alternatives conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Mar. 2005. “Consumerism, Sustainability and the Crisis of the Subject.” Presented at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Oakland, CA.
Mar. 2005. Discussant, “Cuisine, Crops and Community.” Panel at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Oakland, CA.
Feb. 2005. “Water Politics and the Construction of Scale.” Presented at the Studies in Political Economy conference, Toronto, ON.
Jan. 2004. “21st Century ‘Drawers of Water’? The Vicissitudes of Hydrological Nationalism under Continental Free Trade.” Presented at NAFTA and After: Looking forward and back at a decade of free trade (organized by Studies in Political Economy). Ottawa, ON.
Nov. 2003. “Late Capitalism and the Hollywood Gangster.” Presented at Marxism and the World Stage (organized by Rethinking Marxism). Amherst, MA.
Oct. 2003. “Redefining Needs: Ideologies of Nature, Nation, and Consumption under Neo-liberal Globalism and Beyond.” Presented at Globalism and its Challengers Symposium (organized by the Globalism Project). Bergen, Norway.
May 2003. “Ideology and its Ecological Implications.” Presented at Canadian Political Science Association. Halifax, NS.
May 2003. Discussant for panel on “Ethics and Technology.” At Canadian Political Science Association. Halifax, NS.
Apr. 2003. “The Role of Values in Environmental Policy: The Case of Canadian Water Exports.” Presented at Science, Values and Public Policy. Brantford, ON.
May 2002. “The Politics of the (De)Commodification of Nature: The Case of Canadian Water.” Presented at Canadian Political Science Association. Toronto, ON
May 2002. “Things to do with Oars: Beyond the Domination of Nature After the End of Nature.” Reconciliation, Dialectics, Critique: A Symposium on the Work of T.W. Adorno. York University, Toronto, ON.
Mar. 2002. Discussant for John Bell, “From Capitalism to a Democratic, Ecologically Sustainable Socialism.” At New Socialisms: Beyond Market and Plan. Toronto, ON.
Feb. 2002. “Reclaiming the Commons: Canadian Struggles over the Commodification of Water.” Presented at Challenging Neo-Liberal Globalism in the Semi-Periphery (organized by the Globalism Project), Mexico City, Mexico.
Sept. 2000. “Towards a Dialectical Anthropology of the Posthuman Cyborg.” Presented at Marxism 2000 (organized by Rethinking Marxism), Amherst, MA.
Apr. 2000. “Re-reading Marcuse in an Age of Ecological Limits.” Presented at Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
June 1999. “Adorno and Ecology.” Presented at Canadian Political Science Association, Sherbrooke, QC.
June 1999. Chair and discussant, “Post-Fordism and the Environmental Crisis.” Panel at the 1999 Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities (co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies Association of Canada and the Society for Socialist Studies), Sherbrooke, QC.
Mar. 1999. “Urban Space as Natural Environment: Limits of the Social Construction of Nature.” Trans-secting Bodies, Publics, Cultures. Toronto, ON.
June 1998. “Alienation from Nature and Historical Labour: Lessons for a postmodern ecological politics in Rousseau and Marx.” presented at Canadian Political Science Association, Ottawa, ON.
Mar. 1998. “From the Nation-State to the State of Nature: Rousseau, Canada and Postmodernity.” Presented at Invoking Communities. Toronto, ON.
June 1997. “On the Jewish Question (a slight return): The problem of fascism in Heidegger and deep ecology.” Presented at Canadian Political science Association, St. John’s, NF.
Dec. 1996. “The Usual Subjects: Labour, Justice and Postmodernity in The Usual Suspects.” Presented with Steven Hayward at Politics and Languages of Contemporary Marxism (organized by Rethinking Marxism), Amherst, MA.
Invited Presentations
Mar. 2009. “Privatization and Corporate Control of Water,” World Water Day Panel Discussion, organized by the ASU Sustainability Office and Acadia Environmental Society, Wolfville, NS.
Mar. 2009. “Environmentalism and Party Politics in Canada: Some Recent Developments” at Western Political Science Association, Environmental Political Theory workshop, Vancouver, BC.
Feb. 2009. Panelist, “Perspectives on Budget 2009,” panel organized by the Department of Economics, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS.
Jan. 2009. “Virtual Water: Notes on a Concept” Dalhousie University School of Resource and Environmental Studies Seminar Series, Halifax, NS.
Jan. 2009. “Canada Dry? Water Abundance, Scarcity, and National Identity”, invited presentation at the 22nd annual Reddin Symposium, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH.
Nov. 2008. Co-organizer and panelist, “Censorship, Bill C-10, and Young People Fucking,” panel co-sponsored by Acadia University Dept. of Political Science and Fundy Film Society), Wolfville, NS.
Oct. 2008. Panelist, “Reflections on Manufactured Landscapes,”panel organized by Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, NS.
Feb. 2008. “The SPP: Political Contexts and Possibilities for Resistance.” Public Forum on The SPP: From Behind Closed Doors and into the Public Eye, Wolfville, NS.
Feb. 2008. “Water Commodification and the Politics of Scarcity.” Canadian International Law Students’ Conference, Toronto, ON.
Sept. 2007. “Climate Porn and the Death of Environmentalism.” Acadia Students Union, AXE Speaker Series, Wolfville, NS.
Apr. 2007. “Theorizing Environmental Politics.” Forum on “Greener States” Ottawa, ON.
Mar. 2006. “Water Wars by Other Means.” Nova Scotia Agricultural College Research Seminar Series, Truro, NS.
Nov. 2005. “Politics of Water.” Wolfville Rotary Club
Nov. 2005. “Globalization and Water Scarcity: Water Wars by Other Means.” Dalhousie University Political Science Departmental Seminar.
Nov. 2004. “Political Ecology of Urbanization.” Slums Symposium, Acadia University.
June 2004. “Political Ecology of Water.” Keynote address at Setting the Agenda: A Parkland Institute Symposium on the Politics of Water in Alberta, Calgary, AB.
Nov. 2003. “Towards a Post-Consumerist Mode of Consumption: Globalization, Needs, and Sustainability.” Acadia University, Dept. of Economics Seminar Series.
Sept. 2003. “Water Exports, Water Politics, Water Scarcity.” Digital Dialogues Workshop, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS.
Mar. 2003. “Wet Dreams: Water Scarcity, Water Exports and National Fantasies.” Public lecture organized by the St Francis Xavier University program in Interdisciplinary Studies in Aquatic Resources, Antigonish, NS.
Dec. 2002. “Wet Dreams: Possible Futures for Canadians and their Water.” ACOA Nova Scotia Economic Development Branch, Halifax, NS.
June 2002. “Blue Gold or Red-Green? Ideology and the Future of Canadian Water Exports.” The Water and Power Salon (a public forum on water issues). Toronto, ON.
Mar. 1999. “Nature or ‘Nature’? Ecological Politics and the Postmodern Condition.” York University Political Science Departmental Seminar.
Sept. 1998. “The Life of the Ph.D.” Incoming graduate students, York University Department of Political Science. Reprinted in 1998-99 Graduate Political Science Students’ Association Handbook.
Courses taught
Acadia University (2002 - )
POLS 1303 “Introduction to Law, Politics, and Government”
POLS 3213 “The Politics of Water”
POLS 3483 “Globalization: Critical Perspectives”
POLS 3493 “American Government”
POLS 3703 “Issues in Canadian Politics” [Global Environmental Issues]
POLS 4343 “Political Philosophy 1” [Environmental Political Theory]
POLS 4643 “Critical Political Theory”
University of Western Ontario (2000-01)
POL 245 “Introduction to Comparative Politics”
York University (1993 - 2001)
PS 3045 “Contemporary Political Theory”
PS 3540 “Politics and Government of the United States”
PS 1000 “Introduction to Politics” (teaching assistant)
PS 2040 “Introduction to Political Theory” (teaching assistant)
PS 2510 “Introduction to Comparative Politics” (teaching assistant)
Theses Supervised
Masters
Peter Eirikson, “'We're Talented and Bright, We're Lonely and Uptight': Youth Political (Dis)Engagement in Canada” (Acadia, MA Political Science; defended Aug. 2008).
Laura Cervoni, “A Comparative Analysis of Integrated Water Resources Management Approaches in Designated Sites in Nova Scotia and Ontario, Canada” (Dalhousie, MES (co-supervised with Karen Beazley; defended Aug. 2007).
Julie Mailloux, “Perceptions Towards Water Exports: A Case Study of the Gisborne Lake Water Bottling and Export Project.” (Dalhousie, MES; defended Mar. 2006).
Honours
Alex Redfield, “Small Potatoes: Acting Productively Against the Dominant Agricultural Paradigm” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2009).
Ben Whynot, “Fightin’ Words: The Rhetorical Presidency of George W. Bush” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2008).
Colin Hoult, “Power Play: The Supreme Court of Canada and Media Strategies” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2008).
Johannah Black, “The Spirit of the Land Within Us: How Canadian Attitudes and Institutions Promote Genocide of our Northern Indigenous Peoples” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2007)
Catherine Fahey, “Contemporary Canadian National Identity: An Examination of Cultural Expression through Television and Film” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2007)
Chris Bates, “Water as a Tool of Nationalism: Iraq, 1991-2003” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2006)
Allison Fuisz, “An Ecosystem Approach to Transboundary Freshwater Resources: The Case of the Nile Basin Initiative” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2006)
Kurt Holukoff, “Communism is Better than Capitalism: An Investigation into Karl Marx’s Normative Analysis” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science and Philosophy; 2006)
Stephanie Coté, “Water and Conflict in Uzbekistan” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2004)
Kevin Madison, “Breaking the Looping Chain: Oil and Environmental Movements in Nigeria” (Acadia University, BAH Political Science; 2004)
Other Thesis Work*:
Emily Nadolny “Fisheries Management under the Sustainability Paradigm: The Role of Science,”ENVS honours thesis, external committee member
Chad Warren, “Rousseau and the Architecture of Language” MA thesis, internal examiner.
Lyndsay Vidito, “Scientists Under Pressure: Does Affiliation Influence Conclusions? A Chernobyl Case Study” ENVS honours thesis, external committee member
Jeremy R. Walker, “Economy of Nature: A Genealogy of the Concepts ‘Growth’ and ‘Equilibrium’ as Artefacts of Metaphorical Exchange between the Natural and Social Sciences” PhD thesis (University of Technology Sydney), external examiner.