Jennifer Garcia Peacock

Thomson Associate Professor of Environmental Studies

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • M.A. Dartmouth College
  • B.A. Mount Holyoke College

Areas of Expertise

  • American Studies
  • Environmental History
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Environmental Justice
  • Latinx Art and Visual Culture

Background

My training in American Studies focused on the intersection of U.S. and Latinx history, examining the ways that Chicanx cultural producers such as artists and activists have (re)shaped the cultural landscape of California's Central Valley during the second half of the 20th century through visual products such as murals, poster art, pilgrimage, altars, gardens and roadside shrines.

Enhanced by interdisciplinary research in environmental justice during my time at Davidson, this work has grown side-by-side with the burgeoning field of Environmental Humanities, allowing me to cultivate rich connections between scholars, community organizers, and visual artists advocating for important issues related to biodiversity, climate change, cultural affirmation and resilience, gentrification, health disparities, traditional environmental knowledge, transportation justice, and workplace safety. 

My teaching, exhibitions, research, and writing has expanded to include global Environmental Humanities projects in Alaska, Denmark/Faroe Islands, Fresno, Iceland, India, Italy, and New Mexico, providing exciting learning opportunities for students in the Department of Environmental Studies at Davidson. My collaborators include: Americorps/VISTA, Albuquerque Museum, Anchorage Museum, European Cultural Centre, Harvard School of Public Health, National Humanities Center, Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Program, United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the University of New Mexico’s Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities.

Teaching

  • ENV 160 Environmental Justice
  • ENV 203 Environmental Humanities
  • ENV/HIS 256 Environmental History
  • ENV 273 Art, Activism, and the Environment
  • ENV/LAS 284 Latinxs and the Environment
  • ENV 385 Environmental Justice Art
  • ENV 401 Environmental Studies Seminar
  • WRI 101 The American West