Joni Adamson
I am an environmental and literary theorist whose work brings literature, culture, environmental justice, Indigenous knowledge, and sustainability into conversation.
Building fields through interdisciplinary work.
For more than twenty years, I have worked to build and expand the fields of environmental justice critical studies, American Studies, Indigenous Studies, and the environmental humanities.
My work begins with a simple conviction: the environmental challenges we face are not only scientific or technological problems. They are also cultural, historical, ethical, political, and imaginative problems.
Literature and the humanities give us powerful ways to ask questions about how we live, what we value, whose knowledge counts, and what kinds of futures we want to create.
Throughout my career, I have worked across disciplinary boundaries, bringing humanistic inquiry into conversation with sustainability sciences and with scholars and communities working to address environmental challenges.
I am particularly interested in the ways Indigenous literatures, environmental justice movements, climate fiction, film, food systems, and the rights of nature movement can challenge conventional ideas about humanity's relationship with the natural world.
Why the Humanities Matter
What I Work On
Questions that cross boundaries.
My research moves between literature, environmental thought, Indigenous studies, sustainability, and social justice. I am interested in questions that cannot be answered by a single discipline.
Environmental Humanities
I examine how humanistic scholarship can contribute to sustainability sciences and environmental problem-solving.
Indigenous Literatures
I study Indigenous literatures and the knowledge systems, relationships to place, and scientific literacies they bring into view.
Rights of Nature
I engage with the growing movement to recognize rights and legal standing for ecosystems and the more-than-human world.
Environmental Justice
I explore how environmental questions intersect with inequality, power, culture, history, and social justice.
Climate Fiction & Film
I investigate how stories and films help us imagine climate change and possible futures.
Food Justice
I explore food systems through questions of justice, sustainability, culture, sovereignty, and community.
Global Engagement
My work takes me across cultures and continents.
I have been honored to keynote conferences and lecture internationally, engaging scholars and students in conversations about environmental humanities, justice, sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, and future-making.
Australia
China
England
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Italy
Scotland
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
United States
Arizona State University
Teaching, mentoring, and building new conversations.
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Courses
At Arizona State University, I am a Professor of Environmental Humanities in the Department of English.
I also direct the Environmental Humanities Certificate and teach undergraduate and graduate courses. Through my work at ASU, I bring students and scholars together around questions of environment, culture, justice, and the future.
I see teaching as an opportunity not simply to transmit knowledge, but to help students develop the intellectual tools and imaginative capacities they need to participate in creating more sustainable and equitable futures.