Peter Alagona is an environmental historian, historian of science, nature-culture geographer, conservation scientist, wildlife advocate, and prolific author of creative non-fiction. His work explores what happens when humans share space and resources (their habitats) with other species: how we interact with non-human creatures, how we make sense of these interactions, why we fight so much about them, what we can learn from them, and how we might use these lessons to foster a more just, peaceful, humane, and sustainable society. Most of his research has focused on human relations with wildlife in North America. A second area of interest involves developing creative interdisciplinary, collaborative, and mixed methods for studying ecological change.
Research
Pete is an environmental historian, historian of science, nature-culture geographer, conservation scientist, wildlife advocate, storyteller, and author of creative non-fiction. His work explores what happens when humans share space and resources (their habitats) with other species: how we interact with non-human creatures, how we make sense of these interactions, why we fight so much about them, what we can learn from them, and how we might use these lessons to foster a more just, peaceful, humane, and sustainable society. Most of his research focuses on human relations with wildlife. A second area of interest involves developing creative interdisciplinary, collaborative, and mixed methods for studying ecological change. He has worked at archives and field sites in Spain, Bulgaria, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and throughout the American West.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University (2008-09)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (2006-08)
- PhD, UCLA (2006)
- MA, UCLA (2003)
- MA, UC Santa Barbara (2000)
- BA, Northwestern University (1995)
Courses Taught
- ENV S 1: Introduction to Environmental Studies
- ENV S 108W: People and Wildlife
- ENV S 200: Interdisciplinary Environmental Research (IPEES Core Seminar)