PhD in Geography - Nature and Society in Minneapolis United States | University of Minnesota Twin Cities

The field of geography has long focused on the interplay between society and nature (or human-environment relationships). University of Minnesota geographers have traditionally explored these themes by integrating approaches from biophysical studies, human geography, and geographic information science. Contemporary scholars in Minnesota are further examining the philosophical, political, ethical, and scientific consequences of the increasingly blurred divisions between nature and society, as well as between humans and animals. How do we understand the merging of human and non-human realms in unexpected and previously inconceivable ways (such as through climate shifts, genetic modification, emerging diseases like BSE and SARS, or the development of politicized urban ecosystems that distribute natural resources unevenly across populations)? How should we recognize the influence of non-human elements in a world that extends beyond human concerns? What occurs when market forces attempt to commercialize all aspects of existence, including non-human entities? How should we define environmental governance, and how is biological life—including human biology—incorporated into political agendas? Additionally, what function does scientific knowledge serve in addressing public debates about societal and environmental transformations?