Guntra Aistara
Research Fellow
Post-doctoral fellow
Building:
Nador u. 9, Faculty Tower Room:
702 Qualifications:
PhD, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment
M.S., M.A. University of Michigan
B.A. University of Richmond
Academic/Professional experience, and Achievements:
Guntra Aistara is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy in the Environmental and Social Justice Action Research Group, and heads the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Program at CENSE.
She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in 2008. Her dissertation was a multi-sited ethnography of organic agriculture movements in Latvia and Costa Rica. The dissertation explores how culturally divergent traditions and practices surrounding landscape preservation, biodiversity conservation and seed production have shaped the two organic movements' strategies and responses to globalization and entry into regional free trade agreements.
Guntra is currently researching Latvian organic farmer interest in and engagement with the principles and practices of permaculture, and building partnerships with Hungarian and Latvian organizations to promote biological and economic diversity on organic farms.
Guntra is currently on leave from her position as Assistant Professor of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica.
Affiliations:
Academic/Research Areas:
Projects led by Guntra Aistara
Publications
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"Weeds or wisdom? Permaculture in the eye of the beholder on Latvian eco-health farms." In Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopian Imaginaries: Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillages for a Sustainable Future . New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, In Press.
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"Maps from Space: Latvian Organic Farmers Negotiate their Place in the European Union." Sociologia ruralis 49 (2009).
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Land and Seeds: The Cultural, Ecological, and Global Politics of Organic Agriculture in Latvia and Costa Rica In School of Natural Resources and Environment. Vol. PhD. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2008.
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