Dean Hardy

Area(s) of Expertise

My training and education span from marine sciences to human geography. As a geographer trained to work across ways of knowing socio-environmental challenges, my research investigates landscapes as socio-natural, drawing on theory and praxis from the fields of environmental justice and political ecology. My research employs mixed methods (e.g., spatial analyses, interviews, participant observation, etc.) and plural epistemologies (i.e., ways of knowing). The core of my research focuses on analyzing how climate change exacerbates issues of environmental justice in coastal regions, particularly as these issues relate to increased coastal flooding under rising seas. As part of conducting anti-racist and community-based social science research, I am an advisory board member to the Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land and Agriculture, an organization that seeks “to address important questions on the history, present status, and future of agriculture, property politics, and related issues” in a predominantly African American sea island community in coastal Georgia.