Wendy Wolford

Wendy Wolford serves as the Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and holds the administrative position of Vice Provost for International Affairs. She is a core faculty member in both the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) program and the Migrations Program, where she contributes to interdisciplinary research initiatives focused on global development and migration dynamics.

Her research program critically examines international development, land use and distribution, social mobilization, agrarian societies, and critical ethnography, with particular emphasis on Latin America (especially Brazil) and Africa (especially Mozambique). Wolford's scholarship interrogates power structures in land governance, the political economy of global land deals, and the intersections of climate change with agrarian struggles, often employing ethnographic methods to analyze grassroots movements and state-society relations.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2022-2025) reveals a dominant scholarly trajectory centered on the 'Plantationocene' concept, critical agrarian studies, and authoritarian populism's rural dimensions. Her work consistently bridges theoretical innovation with empirical fieldwork, demonstrating how land politics, climate vulnerability, and social movements co-constitute contemporary development challenges in the Global South. This research trajectory shows increasing engagement with climate justice frameworks and decolonial approaches to land studies.

As Vice Provost for International Affairs, Wolford leads Cornell's global strategy, strengthening international partnerships and interdisciplinary initiatives while overseeing the university's response to scholars under threat through the Scholars Under Threat program. Her administrative leadership directly intersects with her academic expertise in global development and migration studies.