Kathryn Besio

Kathryn Besio is a Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, where she chairs the department and coordinates the Liberal Studies Program. She has been affiliated with the university since 2005 and previously facilitated its Gender and Women’s Studies Program in 2015.

• Education:
  • Master of Arts in Geography (1996), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (2001), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Her research focuses on feminist geographies, qualitative methodologies, and place-based studies, particularly examining home gardens, local foods, and transcultural dynamics in South Asia and Hawaiʻi. She critiques conventional assumptions about auto-methods in academic research.

Professor Besio mentors graduate students in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) program, guiding local projects that integrate her expertise in qualitative analysis and food systems. She is currently (2024) developing a manuscript on Fanny Bullock Workman and Rachel Workman MacRobert, exploring colonial ties in feminist geography.

Her 2019 co-authored paper in GeoHumanities highlights feminist innovations in autobiographical research methods, analyzing concepts like experience, memory, and data.