Susan H. Lees Explained

Susan H. Lees
Education:	PhD, University of Michigan
Titles:	Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology
Workplaces:	CUNY Graduate Center
Discipline:	Anthropologist
Sub Discipline:	Cultural anthropology, Human ecology

Susan H. Lees is a cultural anthropologist and human ecologist, and the former editor-in-chief of Human Ecology and American Anthropologist.^[1] She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and is professor emeritus of cultural anthropology, human ecology, economic anthropology, and religion at Graduate Center of the City University of New York.^{[2] [3]} Susan has performed field research around the world in places such as Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and Israel on historical changes to irrigation in agriculture.^[2] Additionally, her research has been published throughout her career in University Press of America, Greenwood Press, Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd., University of North Carolina Press, and more.^[2]

Research

Lees' work focuses mainly on ecological anthropology and economic anthropology.^[2] This research is about how people respond to a climate or environmentally based crisis like climate change, developing fishing practices, and gentrification.^[2] Her early work was largely centered around farming communities and how irrigation in agriculture can impact society and facilitate the emergence of conflict and relationships between groups.^{[4] [5] [6]} More recently, her research has explored the impact of changes in social, political, economic, and environmental developments on rural fishing communities in Maine,^[7] particularly home based crab fishing in Deer Isle, Maine and how this fishing is being threatened by regulations.^[8] This research looks at things like gentrification and education, as well as labor control and governmental power.^[2]

Throughout the last 35 years, Lee has also traveled throughout places in South America, Asia, and North America performing field research on responses to the environment.^[2]

In 1976, Lee became editor of Human Ecology, following the retirement of its founder Andrew P. Vayda. She invited Daniel Bates to co-edit the journal with her.^[9]

In 2009, Lees became the editor of American Anthropologist along with Fran Mascia-Lees.^[10]

Works

• ed. Against the Grain: The Vayda Tradition in Human Ecology and Ecological Anthropology. AltaMira Press. 2009.^[11]
• The Political Ecology of the Water Crisis In Israel. University Press of America. 1999.
• Case Studies in Human Ecology. Plenum Press. 1998.^{[12] [13]}
• Sociopolitical Aspects of Canal Irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca. University of Michigan Press. 1973.^[14]

References

1. Bates . Daniel G. . 2012-02-01 . On Forty Years: Remarks from the Editor . Human Ecology . en . 40 . 1 . 1–4 . 10.1007/s10745-012-9461-z . 254540987 . 1572-9915. free .
2. Web site: Susan Lees - Anthropology PhD Program . 2023-02-21 . en-CAC.
3. Web site: Susan Lees . 2023-02-21 . guide.americananthro.org.
4. Lees . Susan H. . September 1986 . Coping with Bureaucracy: Survival Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture . American Anthropologist . en . 88 . 3 . 610–622 . 10.1525/aa.1986.88.3.02a00050 . 0002-7294. free .
5. Lees . Susan H. . 1994-12-01 . Irrigation and society . Journal of Archaeological Research . en . 2 . 4 . 361–378 . 10.1007/BF02231484 . 144609689 . 1573-7756.
6. Lees . Susan H. . June 1989 . On Irrigation and the Conflict Myth . Current Anthropology . en . 30 . 3 . 343–344 . 10.1086/203750 . 143769360 . 0011-3204.
7. Lees . Susan H. . 1996 . Review of Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions . Human Ecology . 24 . 1 . 137–141 . 10.1007/BF02167965 . 4603189 . 189873758 . 0300-7839.
8. Lees . Susan H. . Orr . Emily . March 2003 . Uncle Sam Versus the Peekytoe Crab: Post Mortem on a Rural Protest . Culture & Agriculture . en . 25 . 1 . 26–34 . 10.1525/cag.2003.25.1.26 . 1048-4876.
9. Bates . Daniel G. . 2012-02-01 . On Forty Years: Remarks from the Editor . Human Ecology . en . 40 . 1 . 1–4 . 10.1007/s10745-012-9461-z . 254540987 . 1572-9915. free.
10. February 2001 . Meet the Next AA Editors: Fran Mascia-Lees and Susan Lees . Anthropology News . en . 42 . 2 . 11 . 10.1111/an.2001.42.2.11.
11. Ocampo-Raeder . V. Constanza . 2010 . Review of Against the Grain: The Vayda Tradition in Human Ecology and Ecological Anthropology . Human Ecology . 38 . 3 . 467–469 . 10.1007/s10745-010-9315-5 . 40603037 . 155530140 . 0300-7839.
12. Little . Peter D. . 1998 . Review of Case Studies in Human Ecology . Human Ecology . 26 . 2 . 341–343 . 10.1023/A:1018727125610 . 4603283 . 189867021 . 0300-7839.
13. Schwerin . Karl H. . April 1998 . Case Studies in Human Ecology . Daniel G. Bates, Susan H. Lees . Journal of Anthropological Research . en . 54 . 1 . 106–109 . 10.1086/jar.54.1.3631682 . 0091-7710.
14. Downing . Theodore . April 1977 . Sociopolitical Aspects of Canal Irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca. Susan H. Lees. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Number 6, Ann Arbor, 1973, xi + 143 pages, illus. $6.00. . American Antiquity . en . 42 . 2 . 304–307 . 10.2307/279004 . 279004 . 164298095 . 0002-7316.