Michael Wise

Michael Wise is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of History at the University of North Texas, College of Arts and Sciences. His interdisciplinary scholarship bridges environmental history, cultural geography, food studies, and Indigenous studies. He explores how historical narratives shape human understandings of the biophysical world, particularly through everyday practices like farming, cooking, and eating.

His research interests include:

• Environmental History
• Food and Agriculture
• Animal-Human Relationships
• Historical Geography
• Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Food Sovereignty
• Cultural Memory and Narrative Performance

Wise's recent publications and books—such as Producing Predators, Native Foods, and Pedaling Resistance—demonstrate a consistent focus on resistance, narrative construction, and the politics of food and ecology. His work often examines how colonialism, capitalism, and scientific discourse have obscured Indigenous agricultural knowledge and shaped human-animal hierarchies.

Scientific awards and honors include:

• ASFS Book Award (2025) for Native Foods
• CLASS Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award (2024)
• President's Council Teaching Award (2023)
• H. Bailey Carroll Award (2018)
• Vivian A. Paladin Award (2014)

He is actively involved in interdisciplinary initiatives such as the Milpa Agricultural Placemaking Project, which develops edible landscapes in North Texas, and the Texas Animal Humanities Project. As co-editor of the Food and Foodways book series, he has shaped scholarly discourse in food studies. His service as department chair has also led him to reflect on epistemological questions in historical practice, particularly regarding whose stories are told and whose are erased.