David Naguib Pellow

David Naguib Pellow serves as Dehlsen Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, where he directs the Global Environmental Justice Project. Previously, he held the Don Martindale Endowed Chair in Sociology at the University of Minnesota and served as Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego.

• PhD in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz
• MA in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz
• BA in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Professor Pellow pioneers critical environmental justice studies with research spanning environmental racism, carceral systems, animal liberation, and global labor movements. His work challenges traditional frameworks by examining how race, class, immigration status, and species hierarchy intersect with ecological crises. He develops transformative frameworks like the Critical POET Model connecting production, oppression, ecology, and time.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals an expanding research trajectory from urban environmental justice to carceral ecology and transnational climate justice. His scholarship increasingly integrates prison abolition, animal rights, and Indigenous sovereignty frameworks while maintaining focus on corporate power and state violence.

• Academic Influence Sociology World Rank #1158
• Highly cited publications including Garbage Wars (867 citations) and Resisting Global Toxics (381 citations)

Pellow leads the Global Environmental Justice Project, fostering university-community collaborations with frontline environmental justice organizations. His research has secured significant funding for projects examining environmental health disparities in carceral settings and climate justice initiatives in California. He actively mentors emerging scholars through engaged scholarship models that bridge academic and activist communities.

His laboratory of critical inquiry operates through the Global Environmental Justice Project, which functions as a hub for collaborative research connecting scholars, activists, and communities globally. Current initiatives focus on carceral environmental justice, climate adaptation for vulnerable populations, and transnational movement building.