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Dr Agatha Herman
(she/her)
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Agatha Herman
Senior Lecturer
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, an RGS Environment and Sustainability project on tanzanite mining (2022-23) and have just been awarded an AHRC Curiosity grant to explore farming futures with young farmers in Wales.
I am also interested in issues around personal transitions, liminal spaces and citizenship, which I have engaged with through a previous focus on military geographies (specifically on experiences of post-military life) and a British Academy-Leverhulme Trust funded project on people living on canal boats.
Publication
2025
- Herman, A. and Yarwood, R. 2025. Locked out? Navigating the geographies of precarity on Britain's waterways. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 50(1), article number: e12671. (10.1111/tran.12671)
- Herman, A. and O'Neill, K. 2025. The geographies of veganism: Exploring the complex entanglements of places, plants, peoples and profits through vegan food practices. Progress in Environmental Geography (10.1177/27539687241307954)
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. (10.51952/9781529226683)
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. 2025. Locked out? Navigating the geographies of precarity on Britain's waterways. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 50(1), article number: e12671. (10.1111/tran.12671)
- Herman, A. and O'Neill, K. 2025. The geographies of veganism: Exploring the complex entanglements of places, plants, peoples and profits through vegan food practices. Progress in Environmental Geography (10.1177/27539687241307954)
- 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. (10.51952/9781529226683)
- 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
Sustainable & Just Futures in Production Spaces
2024 - Awarded AHRC Curiosity grant of £99,981 (FEC) with Dr Elisabeth Roberts (UWE) for a project entitled ‘Just Farming Futures: using creative methods to explore innovative alternatives in Welsh agriculture’.
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'.
2020 - Awarded ISRF grant of £5000 with Prof. Moya Kneafsey (Coventry University, PI) and Dr Rebecca Sandover (University of Exeter, Co-I) for a project entitled ‘Dialogues on Food Geographies: towards Decolonisation?’
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'.
Thinking through Inclusive Spaces
2024 - Complicating Cardiff project selected for the Being Human festival (supported by the AHRC and British Academy) with Drs. Nicki Kindersley, Kate Moles, Esther Muddiman, Juan Usubillaga, Andrew Williams and Elise Wynne-Hughes (Lead) (Cardiff University) and The Wallich.
2024 - Awarded HEFCW Research Culture Fund grant of £3000 with Dr Esther Muddiman (Cardiff University) for a two-day workshop entitled ‘Driving Inclusive Futures: Recontextualising the socio-cultural legacies of Cardiff University’.
2024 - Awarded AHSS Leading Pathfinders Activity grant of £3000 with Drs. Kate Moles (Lead), Nicki Kindersley, Esther Muddiman and Elise Wynne-Hughes (Cardiff University) for a project entitled ‘Complicating Cardiff: (re)telling global stories through the city’.
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'.
Teaching
My current teaching at undergraduate and masters level centres on socio-cultural, economic and political issues through engaging with empirical examples in both 'developed' and 'developing' spaces to explore lived, everyday experiences of inequality, justice and alternatives. I draw on familiar themes such as food, family, water, religion and identity to support students make connections between their experiences and the themes under discussion.
Previously, I have taught qualitative methods, cultural geographies, development geographies and been the programme director for the MSc in Food Politics and Sustainability (2017-2020). I have also supported a field study visit to Tanzania (2017-2019), and developed a field study visit to South Africa (2020-22).
I am currently a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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 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