معرفی
Mark Rhodes is an Associate Professor of Geography at Michigan Technological University, where his research examines cultural and political geographies of memory, heritage, and national identity with a focus on post-industrial landscapes and memorial practices. His work critically engages with Welsh case studies, industrial heritage sites, and the memorial landscapes of Paul Robeson, addressing themes of cultural sustainability, political ecology, and transnational memory.
His educational background includes:
- PhD in Geography from Kent State University
- MA in Geography from Kent State University
Rhodes' research centers on the intersections of memory, place, and identity in post-industrial contexts. He investigates how heritage institutions and memorial landscapes shape national identity and cultural sustainability through political ecology frameworks, examining scalar dynamics in heritage management and the role of living memory practices. His expertise spans Welsh studies, cultural landscape analysis, and sustainable tourism, with particular attention to absence, appropriation, and decolonial approaches in memorialization.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals consistent focus on industrial World Heritage sites, memorial entrepreneurship, and transcalar heritage dynamics. His work employs innovative methodologies like transoptic landscape analysis to explore how museums, tourism, and food-based memory practices sustain cultural heritage, with recurring themes of political economy, absence, and transnational connections across Welsh and comparative international contexts.
Scientific recognition includes:
- American Philosophical Society Fellow (2025-2026)
- Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Scholar (2025-2026)
Rhodes has secured significant research funding including Fulbright-Schuman grants for EU industrial heritage policy studies, American Philosophical Society grants for national museum research, and National Park Service funding for equitable cultural resource management. These projects involve interdisciplinary collaborations examining sustainable futures for industrial heritage through community-engaged approaches and transnational policy analysis.
Currently on research leave, he advances his work as a Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and as a Fulbright Scholar at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, focusing on national identity construction and heritage institutionalization within European contexts.
