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Jed DeBruin

Education:
Ph.D. Geography, University of Kentucky (expected May 2024)

Graduate Certificate in Social Theory, University of Kentucky (2021)

M.A. Geography, West Virginia University (2019)

B.A. Geography, The Ohio State University (2017)
Biography:

Originally from Athens County in southeastern Appalachian Ohio, Jed DeBruin (he/him) is a fifth-year PhD candidate and graduate instructor in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky. He currently serves as a graduate teaching assistant and graduate instructor in the University of Kentucky's Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program, and as a graduate research assistant for the University of Kentucky's Committee on Social Theory. Jed's research interests include food justice, race & racism, political economy (especially Marxian economics), Appalachia, and political ecologies. Jed's anticipated graduation date is May 2024. 

Jed's dissertation is titled, "From Past to Present: Black Farming in Appalachian Kentucky." In this work, Jed integrates archival methods on Black farming history in Appalachian Kentucky (broadly conceptualized as the eastern and central portions of the state) with oral histories with present-day Black farmers in the region. His archival work focuses on the development of the Black cooperative agricultural extension service in Kentucky, with a particular emphasis on work by a Black county agent operating in Madison County during the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the development of the Appalachian Regional Commission as a decades-long State-led rural redevelopment project. His oral histories - conducted with 11 narrators - details how Black farming has changed over time in this region, as well as the struggles and successes that Black farmers operating today experience in Appalachian Kentucky.

Research Interests:
Black geographies
Appalachia
Food justice
Political Ecology
political economy
Queer & Feminist geographies
Critical Social Theory
Teaching

Graduate Instructor: 

   APP 200 - 201 Introduction to Appalachian Studies (Spring 2024)

   APP 200 - 210 Introduction to Appalachian Studies (Summer 2022)

   GEO 161 - 002 Global Inequalities (Fall 2021)

   GEO 261 - 210 Global Dynamics of Health (Summer 2021)

   GEO 161 - 002 Global Inequalities (Spring 2021)

   GEO 261 - 230 Global Dynamics of Health (Winter 2020-21)

   GEO 261 - 201 Global Dynamics of Health (Fall 2020) 

Graduate Teaching Assistant: 

   APP 200 Introduction to Appalachian Studies (Fall 2023)

   GEO 161 Global Inequalities (Fall 2022)

   GEO 261 Global Dynamics of Health (Spring 2020)

   GEO 261 Global Dynamics of Health (Fall 2019)

Research Assistantships

Graduate Research Assistant

   Committee on Social Theory (2023-2024)

Selected Publications:

Craig, B., Swab, J., & DeBruin, J. (equal authorship) (2024). "Bowling for Better: Reforming World Geography Bowl to Create a More Inclusive Geography." The Professional Geographer, DOI: 10.1080/00330124.2023.2291377.

Manalansan IV, M., DeBruin, J., Mandelo, L., & Mullins, S. (2022). Constellations of strange bodies: Engaging with the concept of mess and its shifting, swirling conditions. disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 30(1), 3. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol30/iss1/3/. 

Gillespie, K., Castro, A., DeBruin, J., & Ferguson, K. (2022). Studying other species: Understanding the webs of living. disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 30(1), 11. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol30/iss1/11/. 

Reber, D., Koch, E., Castro, A., DeBruin, J., Ferguson, K., & Saindon, J. (2022). Whose ethics?: Thinking multispecies relationships through the pandemic classroom. disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 30(1), 12. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol30/iss1/12/. 

Slaymaker, D., Stallins, T., Castro, A., DeBruin, J., Ferguson, K., & Saindon, J. (2022). Animals: The ultimate radical. disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 30(1), 13. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol30/iss1/13/. 

DeBruin, J. (2021). Review of Black Food Matters: Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice edited by Hanna Garth and Ashanté M. Reese. Society & Space. https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/black-food-matters-review.

DeBruin, J. (2019). "Super-Localizing Food as Tourism Development™: Producing the 30 Mile Meal™ in Athens, Ohio". Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. West Virginia University Research Repository, Morgantown, WV. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3859.