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Dr Agatha Herman
(she/her)
Senior Lecturer
School of Geography and Planning
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I am a human geographer with interests in the geographies of ethics and justice; in particular, my research explores and analyses questions and relations of power, social resilience and social practices through a focus on production spaces. I have investigated these through a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (2014-17), which focused on the Fairtrade wine industry, and currently through an RGS Environment and Sustainability funded project on tanzanite mining.
I am also interested in issues around personal transitions and liminal spaces and communities, which I have engaged with through a previous focus on military geographies (specifically on experiences of post-military life) and a current British Academy-Leverhulme Trust funded project on people living on canal boats.
Publication
2024
- Herman, A. and Inwood, J. eds. 2024. Researching justice: Engaging with questions and spaces of (in) justice through social research.. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2024. Locked out? Navigating the geographies of precarity on Britain's waterways.. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (10.1111/tran.12671)
- Herman, A. and O'Neill, K. 2024. The geographies of veganism: Exploring the complex entanglements of places, plants, peoples and profits through vegan food practices. Progress in Environmental Geography
2021
- Herman, A. 2021. Governing Fairtrade: ethics of care and justice in the Argentinean wine industry. Social and Cultural Geography 22(3), pp. 425-446. (10.1080/14649365.2019.1593493)
2020
- Samuel, A., Peattie, K. and Herman, A. 2020. Fairtrade towns: unpacking the dynamics of locally developed ethical retail geographies. Geoforum 117, pp. 114-123. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.09.012)
- Herman, A. 2020. Building a politics of connectivity: intercultural in-commonness in Fairtrade. Antipode 52(5), pp. 1310-1330. (10.1111/anti.12633)
2019
- Herman, A. 2019. Asymmetries and opportunities: power and inequality in Fairtrade wine global production networks.. Area 51(2), pp. 332-339. (10.1111/area.12467)
- Herman, A. 2019. Assembling Fairtrade: practices of progress and conventionalisation in the Chilean wine industry. Environment and Planning A 51(1), pp. 51-68. (10.1177/0308518X18805747)
2018
- Herman, A., Lahdesmaki, M. and Siltaoja, M. 2018. Placing resilience in context: Investigating the changing experiences of Finnish organic farmers. Journal of Rural Studies 58, pp. 112-122. (10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.12.029)
- Herman, A. and Goodman, M. K. 2018. New spaces of food justice [Editorial]. Local Environment 23(11), pp. 1041-1046.
- Herman, A., Goodman, M. K. and Sage, C. 2018. Six questions for food justice [Commentary]. Local Environment 23(11), pp. 1075-1089. (10.1080/13549839.2018.1532401)
2017
- Herman, A. 2017. Practising empowerment in post-apartheid South Africa: wine, ethics and development. Critical Food Studies. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9781315601960)
2016
- Herman, A. 2016. 'More-than-human' resilience(s)? Enhancing community in Finnish forest farms. Geoforum 69, pp. 34-43. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.12.005)
2015
- Herman, A. 2015. Enchanting resilience: Relations of care and people-place connections in agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies 42, pp. 102-111. (10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.10.003)
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2015. From warfare to welfare: veterans, military charities and the blurred spatiality of post-service welfare in the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning A 47(12), pp. 2628-2644. (10.1177/0308518X15614844)
- Goodman, M. K. and Herman, A. 2015. Connections in fair trade food networks. In: Raynolds, L. T. and Bennett, E. A. eds. Handbook of Research on Fair Trade. Elgar Original Reference Edward Elgar, pp. 139-156., (10.4337/9781783474622.00017)
2014
- Herman, A. 2014. Are we there yet? Exploring empowerment at the microscale in the South African wine industry. Environment and Planning A 46(8), pp. 1927-1945. (10.1068/a46293)
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2014. From services to civilian: The geographies of veterans' post-military lives. Geoforum 53, pp. 41-50. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.02.001)
2012
- Herman, A. 2012. Tactical ethics: How the discourses of Fairtrade and Black Economic Empowerment change and interact in wine networks from South Africa to the UK. Geoforum 43(6), pp. 1121-1130. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.07.006)
- Herman, A., Beaumont, J., Cloke, P. and Walliser, A. 2012. Spaces of Postsecular Engagement in Cities. In: Beaumont, J. and Cloke, P. eds. Faith-Based Organisations and Exclusion in European Cities. Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 59-80.
2010
- Herman, A. 2010. Death has a touch of class: society and space in Brookwood Cemetery, 1853-1903. Historical Geography 36(3), pp. 305-314. (10.1016/j.jhg.2009.11.001)
- Herman, A. 2010. Connecting the complex lived worlds of Fairtrade. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 12(4), pp. 405-422. (10.1080/1523908X.2010.532939)
Articles
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2024. Locked out? Navigating the geographies of precarity on Britain's waterways.. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (10.1111/tran.12671)
- Herman, A. and O'Neill, K. 2024. The geographies of veganism: Exploring the complex entanglements of places, plants, peoples and profits through vegan food practices. Progress in Environmental Geography
- Herman, A. 2021. Governing Fairtrade: ethics of care and justice in the Argentinean wine industry. Social and Cultural Geography 22(3), pp. 425-446. (10.1080/14649365.2019.1593493)
- Samuel, A., Peattie, K. and Herman, A. 2020. Fairtrade towns: unpacking the dynamics of locally developed ethical retail geographies. Geoforum 117, pp. 114-123. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.09.012)
- Herman, A. 2020. Building a politics of connectivity: intercultural in-commonness in Fairtrade. Antipode 52(5), pp. 1310-1330. (10.1111/anti.12633)
- Herman, A. 2019. Asymmetries and opportunities: power and inequality in Fairtrade wine global production networks.. Area 51(2), pp. 332-339. (10.1111/area.12467)
- Herman, A. 2019. Assembling Fairtrade: practices of progress and conventionalisation in the Chilean wine industry. Environment and Planning A 51(1), pp. 51-68. (10.1177/0308518X18805747)
- Herman, A., Lahdesmaki, M. and Siltaoja, M. 2018. Placing resilience in context: Investigating the changing experiences of Finnish organic farmers. Journal of Rural Studies 58, pp. 112-122. (10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.12.029)
- Herman, A. and Goodman, M. K. 2018. New spaces of food justice [Editorial]. Local Environment 23(11), pp. 1041-1046.
- Herman, A., Goodman, M. K. and Sage, C. 2018. Six questions for food justice [Commentary]. Local Environment 23(11), pp. 1075-1089. (10.1080/13549839.2018.1532401)
- Herman, A. 2016. 'More-than-human' resilience(s)? Enhancing community in Finnish forest farms. Geoforum 69, pp. 34-43. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.12.005)
- Herman, A. 2015. Enchanting resilience: Relations of care and people-place connections in agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies 42, pp. 102-111. (10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.10.003)
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2015. From warfare to welfare: veterans, military charities and the blurred spatiality of post-service welfare in the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning A 47(12), pp. 2628-2644. (10.1177/0308518X15614844)
- Herman, A. 2014. Are we there yet? Exploring empowerment at the microscale in the South African wine industry. Environment and Planning A 46(8), pp. 1927-1945. (10.1068/a46293)
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2014. From services to civilian: The geographies of veterans' post-military lives. Geoforum 53, pp. 41-50. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.02.001)
- Herman, A. 2012. Tactical ethics: How the discourses of Fairtrade and Black Economic Empowerment change and interact in wine networks from South Africa to the UK. Geoforum 43(6), pp. 1121-1130. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.07.006)
- Herman, A. 2010. Death has a touch of class: society and space in Brookwood Cemetery, 1853-1903. Historical Geography 36(3), pp. 305-314. (10.1016/j.jhg.2009.11.001)
- Herman, A. 2010. Connecting the complex lived worlds of Fairtrade. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 12(4), pp. 405-422. (10.1080/1523908X.2010.532939)
Book sections
- Goodman, M. K. and Herman, A. 2015. Connections in fair trade food networks. In: Raynolds, L. T. and Bennett, E. A. eds. Handbook of Research on Fair Trade. Elgar Original Reference Edward Elgar, pp. 139-156., (10.4337/9781783474622.00017)
- Herman, A., Beaumont, J., Cloke, P. and Walliser, A. 2012. Spaces of Postsecular Engagement in Cities. In: Beaumont, J. and Cloke, P. eds. Faith-Based Organisations and Exclusion in European Cities. Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 59-80.
Books
- Herman, A. and Inwood, J. eds. 2024. Researching justice: Engaging with questions and spaces of (in) justice through social research.. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
- Herman, A. 2017. Practising empowerment in post-apartheid South Africa: wine, ethics and development. Critical Food Studies. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9781315601960)
Research
2022-2023 - RGS-IBG Environment and Sustainability grant of £15000 with Dr Thomas A. Smith (Co-I, Cardiff University) for a project entitled 'Pathways to Just and Sustainable Development Practices through Tanzanite Mining and Production'.
2019-2021 - BA/Leverhulme small grant of £9790 with Prof. Richard Yarwood (PI, Plymouth University) for a project entitled 'Canal boat living: mobile citizenship, moor regulation and social exclusion'.
2014-2017 - Early Career Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (2014-2017) for a project entitled ' The Power of Fairtrade: resilience, ethical development and wine networks'.
Teaching
My current teaching centres on socio-cultural, economic and political issues within international development as well as methods teaching. I have also developed and led a final year field study vist to South Africa (2020).
Previously, I have supported teaching on cultural geographies and a field study visit to Tanzania at undergraduate level, as well as being the programme director for the MSc in Food Politics and Sustainability, which ran until 2020. I have also taught research methods and food geographies at masters level.
Biography
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Plymouth University (2012)
- PhD in Human Geography, University of Exeter (with affiliation to the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa) (2010)
- MSc in Society and Space, University of Bristol (2006)
- BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Bristol (2005)
Honours and awards
2014 Ruralia Visiting Scholar, Ruralia Institute, University of Helsinki (2014/15)
2014 British Council Researcher Links Travel Grant to University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
2013 Ruralia Visiting Scholar, Ruralia Institute, University of Helsinki (2013/14)
Professional memberships
- Treasurer and founder member of the Food Geographies Working Group, RGS-IBG
- Treasurer of the Geographies of Justice Research Group, RGS-IBG
- Fellow of The Higher Education Academy
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers
Academic positions
2016 - present: Lecturer /Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
2013-2016: Lecturer in Human Geography & Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow , Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading
2011-2013: Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University
2011: Research Assistant, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England
2010: Postdoctoral Contract Researcher, Department of Planning, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Committees and reviewing
2018 - Founding editor of the Bristol University Press book series ' Spaces and Practices of Justice'.
2018 - Member of the UKRI FLF Peer Review College
Ongoing:
- Reviewer grant: AHRC and ESRC
- Monograph and edited volume reviewer: Academic Press/Elsevier; Pearson Education; Rowman & Littlefield International; Springer.
- Journal reviewer: Agriculture and Human Values; Southern Africa Anthropology; Area; Gender, Place and Culture; Geoforum; Geography; Geography Compass; GeoHumanities; Human Geography; International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food; Journal of Cultural Economy; Journal of Historical Geography; Journal of Political Ecology; Journal of Rural Studies; Landscape and Urban Planning; Local Environment; Millennium; Social and Cultural Geography; Third World Quarterly.
Supervisions
I am currently the second supervisor to Barbora Adlerova and would be interested in supervising PhD students engaging with social and justice issues in - but not limited to:
- Food politics, ethics and justice
- Fairtrade/fair trade
- Agricultural production
- Power, empowerment and international development
- Social resilience
- Liminal communities
- South Africa, Latin America and Europe
Contact Details
+44 29208 74728
Glamorgan Building, Room 1.81, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA