Kenneth MacDonald

Professor MacDonald teaches in the Dept. of Geography and Program in Planning at the University of Toronto. He is also core faculty in two interdisciplinary programs: the Centre for Critical Development Studies and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Most of his research is ethnographically grounded and he has ongoing research interests in a number of areas that seek to understand the role of transnational processes in the reproduction of cultural formations. Some of this work includes: a) the role of transnationalism and transnational ideologies in the production of cultural identity; b) the production and configuration of transnational cultural economies; c) the postcolonial politics of development; d) the cultural politics of biodiversity conservation; and e) the ethnographic study of transnational institutions of environmental governance, primarily the Convention on Biological Diversity. This latter work has involved (with colleagues) the development of a new methodological approach that called Collaborative Event Ethnography.

Selected Publications

Refereed Articles:

• (2014) Studying Global Environmental Meetings to Understand Global Environmental Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Global Environmental Politics, 14(3) pp. 1-20. (with  Corson, C., Campbell, L and Brosius, P.).
• MacDonald, K. I., Corson, C., Campbell, L. 2014. Capturing the Personal in Politics: Ethnographies of Global Environmental Governance. Global Environmental Politics.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2013. Grabbing ‘Green’: Cynical Reason, Instrumental Ethics and the Production of ‘The Green Economy’, Human Geography 6(1) 46-63.
• MacDonald, K. I., Corson, C. and Niemark, B.  2013. (with Catherine Corson and Benjamin Neimark) Grabbing “Green”: Markets, Environmental Governance and the Materialization of Natural Capital Human Geography 6(1) 1-15.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2013. The Morality of Cheese: The Paradox of Defensive Localism in a Transnational Cultural Economy. Geoforum, 44, 93-102.
• MacDonald, K. I. with Corson, C. 2012. Enclosing the Global Commons: the Convention on Biological Diversity and Green Grabbing. Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(2) 263-283 (invited contribution, 50% responsibility)
• MacDonald, K. I. with  Corson, C. 2012. ‘TEEB Begins Now’ A Virtual Moment in the Production of Natural Capital. Development and Change 43(1) 159-184. (invited contribution, 50% responsibility)
• MacDonald, K. I. 2010. Business, Biodiversity and New ‘Fields’ of Conservation: The World Conservation Congress and the Renegotiation of Organizational Order. Conservation and Society, 8(5) 256-275.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2010. The Devil is in the (bio)Diversity: Private Sector ‘Engagement’ and the Restructuring of Biodiversity Conservation. Antipode, 42(3), 512-49.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2006. Memories of Tibet: Transnationalism, Transculturation and the Cultural Politics of Identity Production in Northern Pakistan, India Review 5(2),190-219. (Invited contribution)
• MacDonald, K. I. 2005. “Global Hunting Grounds: Power, Scale and Ecology in the Negotiation of Conservation”. Cultural Geographies 12(3), 259-291.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2002. Epistemic Violence: The Body, Globalization and the Dilemma of Rights, Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems 12(1), 65-87. (Invited Contribution)
• MacDonald, K. I.  with Butz, D. 2001.“Serving Sahib With Pony And Pen: The Discursive Uses Of Native Authenticity.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 19(1), 179-201.
• MacDonald, K. I. 1998. “Rationality, Representation, and the Risk Mediating Characteristics of A Karakoram Mountain Farming System.” Human Ecology, 26(2), 287-322.
• MacDonald, K. I. with Butz, D. 1998. “Investigating Portering Relations As A Locus For Transcultural Interaction In The Karakoram Region Of Northern Pakistan.” Mountain Research and Development. 18(4) 333-343.
• MacDonald, K. I. 1998. “Push and Shove: Spatial History and the Construction of a Portering Economy in the Karakoram Himalaya”.  Comparative Studies in Society and History, 40(2), 287-317.
• MacDonald, K. I. 1996. “Population Change In The Upper Braldu Valley, Baltistan, 1901-1990: All Is Not As It Seems” Mountain Research and Development 16(4): 351-66.
• MacDonald, K. I. 1989. “The Impact of Large Landslides on Human Settlements at Hopar, Karakoram Himalaya, Northern Pakistan” Annals of Glaciology13: 185-89.

Book Chapters:

• MacDonald, K. I. 2014. Scales of Environmental Governance and the Configuration of Transnational Institutional Space. In B. Müller (ed) The Anthropology of International Organizations: The Inner Workings of a Global Ideal. London: Pluto Press. Pp. 227-254.
• MacDonald, K. I. with Corson, C. 2014. (with Catherine Corson) Orchestrating Nature: Ethnographies of Nature™ Inc. In B Büscher , W. Dressler and R. Fletcher, (eds) Nature™ Inc: New Frontiers of Environmental Conservation in the Neoliberal Age. London: Oxford University Press
• MacDonald, K. I. 2008. Baltistan as a Contact Zone: The Use of Space in the Negotiation of Identity. In Israr-ud-Din (ed) Proceedings of the Third International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2004. Developing ‘Nature’: Global Ecology and the Politics of Conservation In Northern Pakistan.  In James Carrier (ed) Confronting Environments: Local Environmental Understanding In A Globalising World. Lantham: AltaMira Press.
• MacDonald, K. I. 2002. “Producing ‘The Karakoram’” In Proceedings of the International Mountain Research Workshop, Autrans, France. 3-7 June 2000 Grenoble: Grenoble Pôle Européen Universitaire et Scientifique/Institut de géographie alpine.