Mary Mostafanezhad

Mary Mostafanezhad serves as Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. A human geographer specializing in development and socio-environmental change across the Asia-Pacific region, her work critically examines tourism, agricultural transitions, and infrastructure through political ecology frameworks with a focus on Southeast Asia.

Her academic credentials include a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2011), MS in Anthropology from the University of Oregon (2005), and BA in Anthropology & Communication from Washington State University (2003).

Mostafanezhad's research centers on development geography and political ecology, with particular expertise in tourism economies, agrarian transitions, and atmospheric politics. Her scholarship investigates how transnational processes mediate everyday experiences through ethnographic fieldwork in Thailand, analyzing air pollution crises, forest degradation, and infrastructure impacts. She integrates textual analysis of popular culture with geospatial collaboration to reveal socio-ecological power dynamics in Southeast Asia.

Recent publications demonstrate a pronounced shift toward atmospheric political ecology, with 8 of her 15 most recent works (2023-2025) examining air pollution in Northern Thailand. This research intersects tourism geopolitics, crisis narratives, and Belt and Road Initiative impacts, revealing how seasonal haze becomes normalized through data politics and volumetric governance. Her work consistently bridges tourism studies, environmental science, and critical geography.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2021)

Major research funding supports her fieldwork:

• National Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology Senior Research Award for political ecology of seasonal air pollution in northern Thailand
• $1,000,000 Henry Luce Foundation grant for Transboundary Air Pollution and Belt-Road Initiative impacts in Myanmar/Thailand

She mentors graduate students on Asia-Pacific development geographies while leading international collaborations with Chiang Mai University's Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development. Her academic service includes Co-Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Geographies and leadership roles in the American Association of Geographers' Recreation, Tourism, and Sport specialty group.