Karl Zimmerer

Professor of Geography

Professor, Institute for Environmental Studies

Professional Background

PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1988

Research Areas

Cultural and Political Ecology
Agriculture and Environment
Development Geography
Biogeography
Latin America

Current Activities

Geographies of seed and agrobiodiversity

Mountain agricultural environments and water resources.

Conservation, globalization, and development

Professional Activities

Associate Editor, Journal of Latin American Geography
Editorial Board, Professional Geographer
Co-Director, Environment-and-Development
Advanced Research Circle (EDARC), University of Wisconsin-Madison

Awards and Honors

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, The Guggenheim Foundation, New York. (2002-2003)

Carl O. Sauer Award, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers. (1999)

H.C. Cowles Award Biogeography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers (1998)

Selected Publications

K. Zimmerer (Ed.). 2006. Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

K. Zimmerer (Ed., with K.R. Young). 1998. Nature’s Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

K. Zimmerer. 1996. Changing Fortunes: Biodiversity and Peasant Livelihood in the Peruvian Andes. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

K. Zimmerer. 2003. Geographies of Seed Networks and Approaches to Agrobiodiversity Conservation. Society & Natural Resources, Volume 16: 583-601.

K. Zimmerer (Ed., with T.J. Bassett). 2003. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and Environment-Development Studies. New York: Guilford Publications; includes “Approaching political ecology: Society, nature, and scale in human-environment studies” (pages 1-25); also “Environmental zonation and mountain agriculture” (pages 141-169); “Future directions in political ecology” (pages 275-296).

K. Zimmerer. 2003. Just Small Potatoes (and Ulluco)? The Use of Seed-Size Variation in ‘Native Commercialized’ Agriculture and Agrobiodiversity Conservation among Peruvian Farmers. Agriculture and Human Values 20: 107-123.

K. Zimmerer. 2002. Agrodiversidad de las comunidades de montaña, in Montañas del mundo: una prioridad global con perspectives latinoamericanas, Ed. F. Sarmiento, pages 429-443. Quito, Ecuador: Abya-Yala.

K. Zimmerer. 2002. Common Field Agriculture as a Cultural Landscape of Latin America: Development and History in the Geographical Customs of Land Use. Journal of Cultural Geography 19(2): 37-63.

K. Zimmerer. 2002. Conservation and Sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean (with Eric Carter). Yearbook of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG Yearbook) Volume 27: 207-250.

K. Zimmerer. 2002. "Re-scaling irrigation in Latin America: The cultural images and political ecology of water resources." Ecumene 7(2): 150-175

K. Zimmerer. 2002. Social and agroenvironmental variability of seed production and the potential collaborative breeding of potatoes in the Andean countries.” In Farmers, Scientists, and Plant Breeding: Integrating Knowledge and Practice, Eds. D.A. Cleveland and D. Soleri, pp. 83-107 (Chapter 4). Wallingham: CABI International.

K. Zimmerer. 2002. Ecological history and imperialism. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, eds. N.J. Smelser and P.B. Bates, Volume 2, pages 4026-4027. Oxford: Elsevier.

K. Zimmerer. 2001. "Geography and advances in the new ethnobiology: Links to a proposed ethno_landscape ecology." Geographical Review 91(4):725-734.

K. Zimmerer. 2000. "The reworking of conservation geographies: Nonequilibrium landscapes and nature-society hybrids." Annals of the Association of America Geographers I90(2):356-370

Courses Taught

Geography 303, The Human Role in Changing the Face of the Earth

Geography 339, Environmental Conservation

Geography 535, Environmental Geography and Conservation in Developing Countries

Geography 548, Advanced Geography of Latin America

Geography 766, Geographical Inquiry and Analysis: Techniques

Geography 930, Seminar in People-Environment Geography

View all geography syllabi

Graduate Students

Eric Carter. Malaria Eradication and Political Ecological Change.

Diana Downes. An Aldo Leopold Conservation Effort near Madison.

Ryan Galt. The Political Ecology of Pesticide Use.

Fernando González. Weed Invasion in Andean Agriculture.

Stephanie Larson. Seed Exchange of Maize in Small-Scale Agriculture.

Chris Rosin. Agricultural Environments and Trade Agreements.

Mike Batek. Mountain Woodlands and Conservation in the Tropics.

Contact Information

Dr. Karl Zimmerer
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Geography
550 North Park Street
Madison, WI 53706-1404

Phone (608) 262-1855
Fax (608) 265-3991

355 Science Hall
zimmerer@wisc.edu

K. Zimmerer (Ed.). 2006. Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
K. Zimmerer (Ed., with K.R. Young). 1998. Nature’s Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
K. Zimmerer. 1996. Changing Fortunes: Biodiversity and Peasant Livelihood in the Peruvian Andes. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. K. Zimmerer. 2003. Geographies of Seed Networks and Approaches to Agrobiodiversity Conservation. Society & Natural Resources, Volume 16: 583-601.
K. Zimmerer (Ed., with T.J. Bassett). 2003. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and Environment-Development Studies. New York: Guilford Publications; includes “Approaching political ecology: Society, nature, and scale in human-environment studies” (pages 1-25); also “Environmental zonation and mountain agriculture” (pages 141-169); “Future directions in political ecology” (pages 275-296).
K. Zimmerer. 2003. Just Small Potatoes (and Ulluco)? The Use of Seed-Size Variation in ‘Native Commercialized’ Agriculture and Agrobiodiversity Conservation among Peruvian Farmers. Agriculture and Human Values 20: 107-123. K. Zimmerer. 2002. Agrodiversidad de las comunidades de montaña, in Montañas del mundo: una prioridad global con perspectives latinoamericanas, Ed. F. Sarmiento, pages 429-443. Quito, Ecuador: Abya-Yala. K. Zimmerer. 2002. Common Field Agriculture as a Cultural Landscape of Latin America: Development and History in the Geographical Customs of Land Use. Journal of Cultural Geography 19(2): 37-63. K. Zimmerer. 2002. Conservation and Sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean (with Eric Carter). Yearbook of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG Yearbook) Volume 27: 207-250. K. Zimmerer. 2002. "Re-scaling irrigation in Latin America: The cultural images and political ecology of water resources." Ecumene 7(2): 150-175 K. Zimmerer. 2002. Social and agroenvironmental variability of seed production and the potential collaborative breeding of potatoes in the Andean countries.” In Farmers, Scientists, and Plant Breeding: Integrating Knowledge and Practice, Eds. D.A. Cleveland and D. Soleri, pp. 83-107 (Chapter 4). Wallingham: CABI International. K. Zimmerer. 2002. Ecological history and imperialism. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, eds. N.J. Smelser and P.B. Bates, Volume 2, pages 4026-4027. Oxford: Elsevier. K. Zimmerer. 2001. "Geography and advances in the new ethnobiology: Links to a proposed ethno_landscape ecology." Geographical Review 91(4):725-734. K. Zimmerer. 2000. "The reworking of conservation geographies: Nonequilibrium landscapes and nature-society hybrids." Annals of the Association of America Geographers I90(2):356-370