Jesse Swann-Quinn

Associate Professor of the Practice

Biography

I am trained as a political geographer and political ecologist, and joined the Boston College Environmental Studies Program in Fall 2024. My scholarship and teaching broadly focus on spatial politics of the environment, environmental media and storytelling, and exploring sustainability through both local and transnational networks. 

To date much of this work has focused on the former Soviet Union, specifically in the South Caucasus and the Republic of Georgia. Through my ongoing research I investigate dimensions of territory, citizenship, and political subjectivity stemming from metal and mineral mining; human-animal power relations; and the role emotion plays in environmental protest. I also undertake projects with the goal of better understanding notions of environmental citizenship within campus spaces. These include ongoing processes, practices, and politics of land acknowledgement; community education related to permaculture, alternative campus land use, and environmental history; and international educational programming.

Before returning to the academy I spent five years working for National Geographic Television producing natural history films, and I currently serve as the Technical Editor for the American Geographical Society’s digital publication FOCUS on Geography. I prioritize experiential and project-based learning in nearly all my courses, and currently teach Ecologies of Power (ENVS3325).

Recent Publications

  • Swann-Quinn, J., E. Pallant, K. Boulton, J. Michael, S. McRae, and R. D. Bowden. (2022) “Growing a resilient campus forest: Opportunities, barriers, solutions.” In W. Leal Filho, A. Lange Salvia, B. Choate, E. Pallant, & K. Pearce (Eds.), Educating the Sustainability Leaders of the Future. Springer.
  • Bowden, R. D., K. Ams, T. Bensel, M Bethurem, K. Boulton, L. Branby, C. Bradshaw-Wilson, D. Byrnes, I. Carbone, B. Choate, L. Demi, W. Kedzierski, E. Pallant, K. Pearce, C. Shaffer, J. Swann-Quinn. (2022) “College-Community Environmental Collaborations: Guidance for successful community-based projects and research.” In W. Leal Filho, A. Lange Salvia, B. Choate, E. Pallant, & K. Pearce (Eds.), Educating the Sustainability Leaders of the Future. Springer.
  • Swann-Quinn, J. (2021). “Toward Extractive Archipelagos.” Territory, Politics, Governance 9(2), 180-202.
  • Swann-Quinn, J. (2019). “Mining the Homeland: Imagining Resources, Nation, and Territory in Post-Soviet Georgia.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 60(2), 119–151.
  • Swann-Quinn, J. (2019). “More-Than-Human Government and the Tbilisi Zoo Flood.” Geoforum 102: 167-81.