Alistair Fraser

I graduated from The Ohio State University in 2006 with a PhD in Geography, based on research regarding land reform which I conducted in northern Limpopo province, South Africa. I held a Post-Doc position in UCD, Ireland between 2006-07 before starting to lecture in Geography in Maynooth in September 2007. My contract was made permanent in 2012.

My work is diverse in nature, cutting across political, economic and cultural geography. The place most of my research has engaged is South Africa (e.g. see my publications in Geoforum, Social & Cultural Geography, TESG, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Rural Studies, and Estudios de Asia y Africa).

Flowing out of this work, I have developed interests in the political economy of food, particularly how corporate control of the food system creates multiple forms of oppression as well as diverse practices of resistance. I have written about the Irish government's position within this scene (Human Geography) and have published an article that deals with literary geography and the contemporary global politics of rurality, using Barbara Kingsolver's A Prodigal Summer (Journal of Rural Studies). In 2016/17 I also published my first solo-authored book, Global Foodscapes: Oppression and Resistance in the Life of Food (Routledge). I have developed some of the ideas in this work to publish in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers on the 'sugar wars' and by referencing and examining aspects of Mexico's sugar tax.

I am currently conducting new work on the relationship between agriculture and 'big data' (and our algorithmic world), leading to a conference paper presented at the International Colloquium on Agrarian Studies in Vitoria-Gasteiz, which I have published in the Journal of Peasant Studies; a workshop on 'slow computing' held in Maynooth and organized with Rob Kitchin; and papers engaging the concept of 'data curation' in the Journal of Peasant Studies and Geoforum and whether we really can 'eat data' published in Journal of Rural Studies. Connected to these issues in diverse ways is my book co-authored with Rob Kitchin titled Slow Computing: Why We Need Balanced Digital Lives.
 
Regarding quite different empirical issues (but allowing me to explore exciting literatures), I have also written about geographical research regarding dance music scenes (Geography Compass), and more specifically drum & bass music (Geoforum, co-authored with Nancy Ettlinger) and the role of MCs therein (Dancecult). See also my recent From the Floor tribute in Dancecult to drum & bass in general and Marcus Intalex in particular.

Finally, I should note that I've published papers about some aspects of conducting fieldwork (Area, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography); supervised Dr Mavuto D Tembo's PhD thesis on climate change in Uganda; co-researched aspects of Ireland's economic crisis (Human Geography, with Enda Murphy and Sinead Kelly); edited a 40 chapter, two-volume book called Anniversary Essays to celebrate the Geography department's 40th Anniversary; and have published numerous blog posts on diverse topics on Eye on the World (a blog hosted by Maynooth University's Department of Geography) and Ireland After Nama (a blog hosted by NIRSA at Maynooth).

Since February 2019, I have been the Europe editor for the journal Human Geography. I was Associate Editor and Social Media Editor for the journal Space & Polity from 2020-21. Finally, since April 2020 I have been on the Editorial Board of Dancecult.