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Lawrence S. Grossman

Emeritus Professor
Larry Grossman
lgrossmn@vt.edu

Research Interests:

  • Political Ecology
  • Colonial Environmental History
  • Caribbean
  • Peasantries
  • Contract Farming
  • Agriculture
  • Pesticide use in developing countries

Classes Recently Taught:

  • Geographic Theory and Research, GEOG 5014
  • Topics in Political Geography, GEOG 5424
  • Introduction to Human Geography, GEOG 1004
  • Environmental Problems, Population, and Development, GEOG 3104
  • Geography of Resources, GEOG 4204
  • The Geography of Third World Development, GEOG 5204

GIS Training Workshops (for USAID IPM CRSP):

  • Jamaica 1998 and 1999
  • Uganda 2002

Books:

  • 1998.  The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  • 1984.  Peasants, Subsistence Ecology, and Development in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.  Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Recent Articles:

  • 2013. Tammy E. Parece, Lawrence Grossman, and E. Scott Geller. "Reducing Carbon Footprint of Water Consumption: a Case Study of Water Conservation at a University Campus." In The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Volume 25, pp. 199-218, ed. by Tamim Younos and Caitlin A. Grady. Springer Berlin Heidelberg

  • 2013. Tammy E. Parece, Tamim Younos, Lawrence S. Grossman, and E. Scott Geller. "A Study of Environmentally Relevant Behavior in University Residence Halls." International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education: 14,4:  466-481.

  • 2010. Butterworth, M.K., Kolivras, K.N. , Grossman, L.S., and Redican, K.J. 2010. "Knowledge, perceptions, and practices: Mosquito-borne disease transmission in southwest Virginia, USA." The Southeastern Geographer 50,3: 366-385.

  • 2007. “The Colonial Office and Soil Conservation in the British Caribbean, 1938 to 1950,” in Caribbean Land and Development Revisited, edited by J. Besson and J. Momsen. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 29-40.

  • 2004. “Understanding Pesticide Misuse in Developing Countries,” in WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives on 100 Problems (AAG centennial volume), edited by D. Janelle, B. Warf, and K. Hansen, Kluwer Academic, pp. 425-429.
  • 2004. (with P. W. Porter). “Fieldwork in Non-Western Contexts: Continuity and Change,” in Geography and Technology (for AAG centennial volume), edited by S. Brunn, S. Cutter, and J. W. Harrington, Kluwer Academic, pp. 201-220.
  • 2003. "The St. Vincent Banana Growers' Association, Contract Farming, and the Peasantry" in Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas, edited by S. Striffler and M. Moberg, Duke University Press, pp. 286-315.
  • 2003. “Geographic Information Systems to Enhance IPM Collaborative Research in Uganda.” In Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program, Ninth Annual Report. Virginia Tech, pp. 207-210.
  • 2002. Manual for Using GIS in Uganda, 243 pp. Blacksburg, Va.: IPM CRSP
  • 2001. "The Politically Incorrect Mutual Fund: A Web-Based Activity Focusing on Transnationals and the Environment." Journal of Geography 100: 164-173.
  • 2000. “Enduring Constraints on Cattle Production on St. Vincent and Jamaica,” Caribbean Geography, Vol. 11: 67-80.
  • 2000. "Women and Export Agriculture: the Case of Banana Production on St. Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean," in Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures: Increasing Food Security in Developing Countries. A. Spring, ed., Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 295-316.

Grants and Awards:

  • 2007 (with Jim Campbell) “Landscapes of Food, Culture, and Environment in England,” Summer institute, Virginia Geographic Alliance ($31,500)
  • 2007 Virginia Tech Humanities Summer Stipend for research in London on “Refashioning Caribbean Peasants and Landscapes” (Jamaica)
  • 2004 Robert McC. Netting Award in recognition of distinguished research and professional activities that bridge geography and anthropology from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers.
  • 2003 XCaliber Award for Integrating Technology in Teaching and Learning
  • 2002 Virginia Tech Humanities Summer Stipend for research in London on changing environmental discourses in the British Caribbean, 1880s - 1940s.
  • 2001 "Geographic Information Systems To Enhance IPM Collaborative Research in Uganda." funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the IPM CRSP and administered by the Office of International Research and Development, Virginia Tech. ($18,000).
  • 2000 CHOICE award for "Outstanding Academic Book" by the Association of College and Research Libraries for The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean.
  • 2000 Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research grant for archival research on soil conservation policy and discourse in the British Caribbean and British East Africa, 1920-1960 ($18,000).
  • 2000 Virginia Tech Humanities Summer Stipend for research on colonial soil conservation policy and discourse in the British Caribbean and British East Africa.