LAURA-ANNE MINKOFF-ZERN
Goucher College
1021 Dulaney Valley Road
Van Meter 116-7
Baltimore, Maryland 21204
LauraAnneMinkoffZern@goucher.edu
______________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION
PHD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
2012
Department of Geography
Committee: Richard Walker, Jake Kosek, Nancy Peluso, Carolyn Finney, Alison Alkon
Dissertation: Migrations of Hunger and Knowledge: Food Insecurity and California’s Indigenous
Farm Workers
BA, CORNELL UNIVERSITY
2004, Magna Cum Laude
Sustainable Agriculture and Development, College Scholar Program
Concentration in Latin American Studies
Honors Thesis: Local and Alternative Agricultural Practices for Permanent Soil Fertility in San
Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala
PUBLICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL PAPERS
Publications
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. 2012. “Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the
Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity.” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography.
Online 2012. To be published in a special issue on Race, Space, and Nature.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. 2012. “Pushing the Boundaries of Indigeneity and Agricultural
Knowledge: Oaxacan Immigrant Community Gardening in California.” Agriculture and Human
Values. Vol 29 (3): 381-392.
Minkof-Zern, Laura-Anne. Accepted. “Migrations of Hunger and Knowledge: Alleviating Food
Insecurity for California’s Farmworkers.” Local Environment: The International Journal of
Justice and Sustainability. Invited to submit to a special issue on Interstitial and Subversive Food
Spaces.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne, Nancy Peluso, Jennifer Sowerwine and Christy Getz. October 2011.
“Race and Regulation: Asian Immigrants in California Agriculture.” In Cultivating Food Justice:
Race, Class and Sustainability. Alison Alkon and Julian Agyeman, eds. MIT Press.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne and Christy Getz. 2011. “Farmworkers- The Basis and Bottom of the
Food Chain.” Race, Poverty, and the Environment. Vol 18. No 1.
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Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. In Press. “A Review of Free for All: Fixing School Food in
America.” Food and Foodways.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. 2010. “Agribusiness.” In Green Food, An A-to-Z Guide, Dustin J.
Mulvaney and Paul Robbins, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Works in Progress
Carney, Megan and Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern. “The Migrant Body as Site of the Neoliberal
Project: Learning Citizenship through Nutrition Campaigns in the US.” Submitted to Human
Organization.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. “Farm Labor and Food Movements: The Potential for Farmworker
Led Consumer-Based Initiatives.” Submitted to Human Geography.
Brahinsky, Rachel, Laura-Anne Minkof-Zern, and Jade Sasser. “Introduction to Special Issue on
Race, Space and Nature.” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography.
Minkoff-Zern, Laura-Anne. “The Agrarian Question in California: Migration and the “New”
Peasantry.” In progress for submission.
Professional Papers
Gillon, Sean, Minkoff, Laura-Anne, and Thistlethwaite, Rebecca. 2007. “Grounding Ourselves:
Innovative Land Tenure Models in California and Beyond.” California Food and Justice Network
Working Paper. Community Food Security Coalition. Reprinted 2008. In Farmer’s Guide to
Securing Land. Sebastopol, CA: California Farmlink.
Minkoff, Laura-Anne. Local and Alternative Practices for Soil Fertility in San Lucas Tolimán,
Guatemala. 2004. Resource document for The Mesoamerican Institute for Permaculture (IMAP),
San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala.
Minkoff, Laura-Anne. Land Ownership in Guatemala. 2004. Resource document for The
Network in Solidarity With the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Washington DC.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Food Movements and Farm Labor: Strengthening Coalitions For Equality In The Food System;
Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference; University of Kentucky; 2012
Panelist; Migration and Alternative and Non-Capitalist Political Ecologies; Society for Applied
Anthropology Meeting; 2012
The Agrarian Question In California: Migration And (Non) Traditional New Farmers;
Association of American Geographers Meeting; New York; 2012
Farmworker Food Insecurity, The Agrarian Question, and (Non)traditional New Farmers;
Critical Geography Conference; Clark University; 2011
Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food
Insecurity; Race, Space, and Nature: A One Day Symposium at UC Berkeley; 2011
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Knowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food
Insecurity; Association of American Geographers National Conference; Seattle; 2011
Addressing Farmworker Food Insecurity; Berkeley School of Law Food Justice Symposium; UC
Berkeley; 2011
Corn Across Borders: Immigration, Labor, and Travelling Knowledge. Symposium on The
“Americorn” Way; UC Berkeley; 2011
Moderator and Discussant; Labor and Health Across the Food Industry; California Studies
Association Annual Conference; Oakland, CA; 2011
Moderator and Discussant; Farmworkers Across Borders; International Day of Peasant Struggle
Celebration; Sponsored by the Bay Area Friends of the MST, La Via Campesina, and
the Urban Studies Program of the San Francisco Art Institute; 2011
Migrations of Hunger and Knowledge: Food Insecurity and California’s Indigenous Farm
Workers; Association of American Geographers National Conference; Washington DC; 2010
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
INSTRUCTOR
Biosphere and Society; Fall 2012
Goucher College
Introduction to Environmental Studies; Fall 2012
Goucher College
Food and Agriculture in Modern World History; Spring 2012
University of California in Washington DC Program
Political Ecology of the Third World; Summer 2010
UC Berkeley, Department of Geography
Responsible for designing course syllabus and material, wrote and delivered lectures, held office
hours, graded student assignments (papers, quizzes, and final exam), and advised students
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Economic Geography; Fall 2008 and Fall 2010
UC Berkeley, Department of Geography
Introduction to Development Studies; Fall 2009
UC Berkeley, Department of Development Studies
Political Ecology; Spring 2008
UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM)
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World Regions and Cultures; Fall 2007
UC Berkeley, Department of Geography
Designed syllabus, course material and activities for 2-3 discussion sections per week, held office
hours, graded all course assignments (papers, exams, etc), advised students
READER
Environmental Biology; Fall 2008
UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM)
General Areas of Teaching Interest: Environmental Politics, Globalization and Social Change,
Food and Agriculture, and Ethnographic and Participatory Research Methodologies
Specific Courses of Interest: The Political Economy/ Ecology of Food; Global Development,
Labor, and Migration; Race, Gender, and Environmental Change; Food, Justice, and
Sustainability
SELECTED GRANTS AND AWARDS
Rosenberg Grant for Immigration Reporting; The Rosenberg Foundation and UC Berkeley
School of Journalism; May 2011
Honorable mention; Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society Student Research Paper
Awards 2011; Paper title: Pushing the Boundaries of Indigeneity and Agricultural Knowledge:
Immigrant Community Gardening in California
Society of Woman Geographer's Graduate Studies Fellowship; September 2010
Programa de Investigacion de Migracion y Salud (PIMSA) and the Health Initiative of the
Americas’ dissertation research grant; October 2010
The University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UCMEXUS) Small
Grant for Student Research; December 2009
The Center for Race and Gender Graduate Research Grant; UC Berkeley; December 2009
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Researcher and Project Site Coordinator, National Latino Research Center (NLRC),
California State University San Marcos, Collaborated on California Endowment funded project
to find a statewide approach to solving farmworker health problems; Hired, coordinated, and
trained participants to do community outreach and health surveys; Spring 2010-2011
Researcher, Ecoagriculture Partners and the UC Berkeley Center for Sustainable Resource
Development, Researched/ developed collaborative project between Cornell University, UC
Berkeley, and the USDA compiling global case studies of sustainable agriculture to use in
undergraduate courses; Spring 2009
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Research Assistant, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), Oakland, CA,
Researched San Francisco Bay Area farms, restaurants, and food retailers to confirm commitment
to local food production and sales for Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign, Summer 2007
Research Intern, Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, CA,
Documented alternative lend tenure models for beginning farmers; Interviewed beginning farmers
and homesteaders across the United States, Spring/ Summer 2005
DEPARTMENT AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Co-organizer; “One Day Symposium on Race, Space, and Nature.” UC Berkeley, 150 attendees
from across the country; special issue of Antipode is currently in progress from the proceedings;
Spring 2011
Co-founder; The Geography Group on Gender and Difference (3GD); 3GD is a collaborative
community of Berkeley Geography graduate students and scholars committed to widening the
diversity of perspectives, approaches, and lived experiences represented in geography and
academia; 2010-2011
Student Advisor/Mentor; Advised four students on their senior honors theses; 2008 – 2011
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SPECIAL TRAINING
Farm Apprentice, Full Belly Farm, Guinda, CA; Practiced farming at a 250-acre mixed fruit
and vegetable farm. Worked on all aspects of food production and marketing; 2004 - 2005
Board Member, Planning Task Force of Esparto Farmers Market, Yolo County, CA;
Helped to design and market a new farmers market,;2004 - 2005
Farm Intern, The Mesoamerican Institute for Permaculture, San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala;
Certified in Permaculture Design. Worked closely with Mayan farmers; 2003
LANGUAGES
SPANISH good and proficient
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