JNGD25

Based on what you said about your research interests I would recommend St. Martin, Birkenholtz and Schroeder. They are all political ecologists and I think all of them would all be open to students with an interest in critical/postructural approaches. They are each at different stages of their careers. Schroeder has been here a long time and is well established. He does his research in Africa. St. Martin has had tenure for a few years now so is also well established. He works in the north east of the US. Birkenholtz is in his third year here. He works in Asia and is a former student of Paul Robbins. There are also two others on the graduate faculty who would identify themselves as political ecologists (Hughes and McDermott) but I don't know as much about them. They are based on the Department of Human Ecology but are members of the graduate faculty in geography. St. Martin and Birkenholtz might be a slightly better fit for your interests but really any one of the three should be good for you to contact. You should be able to find a lot more info on each of them from the department website. Best of luck with it.

Well as is the case with everything when you're applying for PhD programs (or most things in life for that matter) the OP and anyone else should check things out for themselves rather than relying on what others say. I have been in the Rutgers program since before 2007 and I can say that what you said wasn't an accurate reflection on the program then or now. My apologies if I come over as strong on this but I'm just a little shocked at the language you used. Pariah is a strong word and given that this is possibly the most inclusive and welcoming place that I've ever experienced (I'm genuinely not exaggerating when I say that) I find it a bit over the top. I say this as someone who does research in a place that certainly isn't Africa. While Rutgers has a strong Center for African Studies and it would be a good place for someone with an interest in doing research there, I think there may only be three or four grad students in geography currently working in Africa. No one region dominates the department at present. In any event the person who told you this (assuming they were giving an accurate reflection of their experience) must be reflecting a time that has long since passed. A quick look at the lists of faculty and grad student research will show this. I don't intend to come across as an uncritical cheerleader for Rutgers but I can't let things that are clearly not accurate pass without comment.

What? As a current Rutgers student I can say that's absolutely not the case. Either things have changed an awful lot since you spoke to this person or their perception wasn't exactly accurate! Of the students doing human environment work now there are more working in the US than in Africa. There are four members of the graduate faculty in geography who are political ecologists, two work in Africa, but the remaining two work in the US and Asia. There are currently students working in Europe, Asia the US and South America. To suggest that anyone not working in Africa is an outcast or a pariah is just not true. In fact I'd have to say this is a very open and inclusive department. Nobody is a pariah for any reason, especially not on the basis of where they want to do their research.

If you're interested in the more critical/post-structural side of things that definitely narrows the search for you. There are some departments what would be a great fit for you and some that won't. The three that jump out for me when I hear that are Clark, Arizona and Rutgers. Rutgers is the one I would know most about. There are 3 good faculty there with a strong critical/post-structuralist/political ecology background. Clark was once THE place to go for that type of stuff but I've heard people say it probably isn't as strong on that aspect of things as it once was. Still well worth checking out though. I'd also recommend you look at the list of current grad students in each program. That will give you a feel for whether there are others with similar research interests there so that you would have a community to fit into. Obviosuly it's also a good idea to visit and talk to current grad students once you have a short list of where you intend to apply to.

That's a good point about most of the programs not letting you into the PhD program without an MA. There are a few exceptions though including Clark and Rutgers. I'm not sure about Syracuse. The programs listed by the previous poster are well worth checking out. I've heard a few people say that UCLA isn't as good for human/environment as most of their faculty are either purely physical or purely human geographers but I don't know enough about their department to say for sure.

For nature/society or human/environment geography you should certainly check out Rutgers and possibly Clark.