Jesse Ribot

Jesse Ribot is a Professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC. He previously held academic roles including Professor of Geography, Anthropology, and Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois (2008-2018), and served as a faculty member at the College of Humanities and Development Studies at China Agricultural University in Beijing (2010-2014). He has also held visiting professorships at institutions such as the New School for Social Research and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Ribot earned a Ph.D. (1990) and M.S. (1985) from UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, and a B.A. (1981) in Physics and Linguistics from Hampshire College.

Research Interests: Ribot’s work focuses on environmental justice, political economy, and the socio-economic drivers of resource-dependent communities’ vulnerability. He explores decentralization, natural resource tenure, climate adaptation, and the political ecology of migration. His research integrates methodologies from sociology, anthropology, and geography, emphasizing participatory research and policy translation through creative mediums like film and sculpture.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. 1990, Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley
  • M.S. 1985, Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley
  • B.A. 1981, Physics & Linguistics, Hampshire College

Awards:

• Guggenheim Fellowship (2018–19)
• MacArthur Fellowship
• Stanford Center for Advanced Studies Fellowship
• Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Fellowship
• Yale Program in Agrarian Studies Fellowship

Grants & Initiatives:

• Founder of the Initiative for Climate Action Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences (ICARUS)
• Core leader of the Responsive Forest Governance Initiative (RFGI)

Ribot’s work emphasizes training over 80 young scholars through in-situ research programs, fostering policy-relevant scholarship.

Labs & Teams: Active in interdisciplinary research networks, including the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy program at the University of Illinois and collaborative film projects translating research into accessible media.