Emily T. Yeh

  • Professor of Geography
  • 2024 Guggenheim Fellow
  • College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Distinction
  • Nature/society geography; political ecology; cultural politics; development; Tibet; China
  • Faculty Affiliate: Center for Asian Studies, CNAIS, C3BC
  • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2003
  • Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 2023-24
  • Past-president, American Association of Geographers (2021-22)
  • HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • ENVIRONMENT-SOCIETY

Research Interests

My main research interests are on questions of power, political economy, and cultural politics in the nature-society relationship. Using primarily ethnographic methods, I have conducted research on property rights, natural resource conflicts, environmental history, development and landscape transformation, grassland management and environmental policies, and emerging environmentalisms in Tibetan areas of China. In addition, I have also worked on the politics of identity and race in the Tibetan diaspora, and on several NSF-funded interdisciplinary, collaborative projects on putative causes of rangeland degradation and vulnerability to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau. Broader research and teaching interests include transnational conservation, critical development studies, the relationship between nature, territory, and the nation, and environmental justice. My regional expertise is in China, Tibet, and the Himalayas.

More Info

Despite living in Colorado and doing research in Tibet, I love the ocean and try to scuba dive when I get the chance. Fortunately, I also enjoy cycling and camping. I am also a "professora" of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art, and mom of Osel and Seldron. 

Recent Courses Taught

  • Spring 2024  GEOG 3022  Climate Politics amd Policy
  • Spring 2024  GEOG 5161  Research Design in Human Geography
  • Fall 2023  GEOG 5632  Development Geography
  • Spring 2023  GEOG 5161  Research Design in Human Geography
  • Fall 2022 GEOG 6402  Political Ecology
  • Spring 2022  GEOG 5161  Research Design in Human Geography
  • Fall 2021 GEOG 5652  Introduction to Social Theory
  • Spring 2021  GEOG 5161  Research Design in Human Geography
  • Fall 2020  GEOG 5632  Development Geography
  • Spring 2020  GEOG 5161  Research Design in Human Geography
  • Spring 2019  GEOG 3822  Geography of China
  • Fall 2019  GEOG 5632  Development Geography