Home > About Us > People : Prof Eric Sheppard
Department Affiliations
Narrative
I was born in England, growing up in East Anglia, and have been interested in geography for as long as I remember. I took Geography classes 3-5 hours a week from the age of 7 to 16, subsequently specializing in geography, physics and chemistry before enrolling at Bristol University as an undergraduate major in geography. I intended to study geomorphology, but was converted to a human geographer by the brilliant lectures of Peter Haggett. I went to Toronto for just a year (I thought) to get a Masters degree, staying for a Ph.D. I have been in North America ever since, coming to Minnesota in 1976. As a geographer, I have traveled to most regions of the world, including visiting professorships in Britain, Austria, Indonesia and Australia.
Specialties
- Trade and uneven geographies of globalization
- geography of economic development
- The spatial dynamics of capitalism
- neoliberalism and its contestations
- Livelihood struggles in the third world
- geographic information, technologies and society
- environmental justice in the Twin Cities
- Urban policy and urban development
Educational Background
- Ph.D.: Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1976.
- M.A.: Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1974.
Publications
- A World of Difference: Encountering and contesting development. Sheppard, Eric, P W Porter, D Faust, R Nagar, Author. Link
- Contesting Neoliberalism: Urban frontiers. Sheppard, Eric, Helga Leitner, Jamie Peck, Guilford, Co-Editor, 2007. Link
- Politics and Practice in Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell, Sage, Co-Editor, 2007.
- Scale and Geographic Inquiry. Sheppard, Eric, Robert B. McMaster, Blackwell, Co-Editor, 2004. Link
- Reading Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell, Blackwell, Co-Editor, 2003. Link
- A Companion to Economic Geography. Sheppard, Eric, Trevor J Barnes, Basil Blackwell, Author, 2000. Link
- Capitalism beyond harmonious equilibrium: Mathematics as if human agency mattered: Sheppard, Eric, Environment and Planning A, 41 265-283, 2009.
- The spatiality of contentious politics: Sheppard, Eric, H Lietner, K. Sziarto, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , NS 33 157-172, 2008.
- Geographic dialectics?: Sheppard, Eric, Environment and Planning A, 40 2603-2612, 2008.
- Geography matters: Agency, structures and dynamics: Sheppard, Eric, Paul S Plummer, Journal of Economic Geography, 6 , 2006. Download
- Constructing free trade: From Manchester boosterism to global management: Sheppard, Eric, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , NS 30 151-172, 2005.
- Knowledge production through critical GIS: Review and Assessment: Sheppard, Eric, Cartographica, 40 5-22, 2005.
- Knowledge production through critical GIS: Review and Assessment: Sheppard, Eric, Cartographica, 40 5-22, 2005.
- The spaces and times of globalization: Sheppard, Eric, Economic Geography, 78 307-330, 2002. Download
- The city is dead, long live the network: Harnessing networks for a neoliberal urban agenda. Sheppard, Eric, Leitner, H., Author, 2002. Download
- GIS-based measures of environmental equity: Exploring their sensitivity and significance. Sheppard, Eric, R. McMaster, H. Leitner and H. Tian, 1999.
Research Activities
- Trade and uneven geographies of globalization: An examination of the emergence of ideas and practices of free trade, and their impact on the spatial dynamics of globalization over the last 200 years, 2002 - 2007
- Out-of-equilibrium spatial economic dynamics: Development of new methodologies to analyze spatial change when the economy can be represented in terms of complexity theory (with Paul Plummer), 2002 - 2008
- Contested urban futures: Examination of how the neoliberalization of urban policymaking worldwide is being challenged by social movements, grassroots activities, and state actions (with Helga Leitner), 2004 - 2008
Professional Activities
- Steering Committee Member: Interdisciplinary Center for Global Change , 2002 - 2007
- Co-editor, Environment and Planning A: 1998 - present
Outreach Activities
- Development of an environmental inventory for Phillips Neighborhood (with Helga Leitner and Robert McMaster): university-community research, 1998 - 2000
Awards
- Honors for Distinguished Scholarship, Association of American Geographers
- Fesler Lampert Professor (humanities), 2002 - 2004
- Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2005 - 2006
Courses Taught
- Geog 1301 - Our Globalizing World
- Geog 3331 - Geography of the World Economy
- Geog 3378 - The Third World: Development, Poverty, Possibility
- Geog 4001 - Modes of Geographic Inquiry
- Geog 8002 - Proseminar: The Economy, the State, and Spatial Development
- Geog 8520 - Seminar: GIS and Society
- Geog 8980 - Contested Urban Futures
- GEOG 8020 - Economic Geography seminar
Alternative Output Formats