معرفی
Rachel Arney is a Visiting Lecturer in Geography at Georgia State University's College of Arts & Sciences, joining the faculty in January 2025. She holds a PhD in Integrative Conservation & Geography from the University of Georgia (2024), an MS in Biology from the University of Texas–Brownsville (2014), and a BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona (2010).
Her educational background reflects her interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies, transitioning from natural science research to critical social science perspectives. Dr. Arney's research trajectory demonstrates a significant shift from marine ecology fieldwork to examining the political dimensions of environmental knowledge production.
Dr. Arney's research focuses on political ecology, environmental governance, and science and technology studies. Her work examines how environmental knowledge is produced, codified in institutional documents, and used in ways that reinforce socio-environmental harms. She investigates the intersection of border security and environmental management, particularly how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has emerged as an environmental actor in protected places along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Her scholarship bridges natural and social science approaches, reflecting her career transition from marine ecology to critical social science.
Her publications reveal an evolving research trajectory from marine ecology (2017) to critical social science (2022-2025), demonstrating increasing focus on political ecology, border studies, and environmental governance. Her work spans disciplinary boundaries, appearing in geography, environmental studies, and humanities journals.
Dr. Arney's academic journey reflects a conscious movement from natural science fieldwork to critical social science analysis. Originally from Arizona, she spent much of her early career as a marine ecologist working on sea turtle research along the Gulf Coast and Caribbean before shifting to social science approaches to more fully engage with the social and political dimensions of ecology and conservation.
Her current research examines how reconfigurations of state power (particularly settler colonial state power) enable institutions like the Department of Homeland Security to become environmental actors in protected borderlands spaces, with implications for environmental justice and indigenous rights.
