Scott Freeman

Dr. Scott Freeman is an Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University. His research focuses on the social impacts of extractive agriculture, international aid projects, and land grabs in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. He investigates how bureaucratic procedures in aid and conservation initiatives often undermine their goals, particularly through ethnographic work with agriculturalists and NGO workers. Key research areas include the vetiver essential oil industry and soil conservation in Haiti, reciprocal labor practices as counterplantation strategies, and the environmental and economic impacts of pineapple farming in Costa Rica. Currently, he collaborates with grassroots groups in northern Haiti to address displacement caused by aid-financed factories and advocates for land security through legal and social science methods.

• Educations:
• PhD in Anthropology, Columbia University
• EdM, Harvard University

His work explores environmental change and resistance to mining and land appropriation, blending legal advocacy with anthropological research. Publications appear in journals like Journal for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology and World Development, and he co-edited Who Owns Haiti: People, Power, and Sovereignty (University Press of Florida). He serves on the editorial board of Environment and Society.

Teaching includes courses such as SIS-637 International Development, emphasizing critical perspectives on aid and development.