Rebecca Austin, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies
Area of Expertise: Environmental anthropology
Phone: 970-247-7346
Email: austin_r@fortlewis.edu
Professor Austin is an applied environmental anthropologist with over ten years of experience working alongside tribal governments in the southwestern United States and with various water-related issues, including acequias (traditional irrigation systems) in New Mexico, as well as teaching about Puebloan farming and gathering techniques. Some examples of her research on human-environment relationships include studies of the social impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, traditional places in the Navajo Nation, and public perceptions of lawns and landscapes, as well as a current National Park Service Project on the ethnohistory of African American homesteaders in the Mojave Desert. Professor Austin’s integration of anthropology and human ecology has led to a variety of teaching and applied projects, and she teaches a wide range of courses, including ethnobotany of the Southwest and traditional ecological knowledge.
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