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Rob Efird, PhD

Professor, Anthropology and Sociology

Biography

Rob Efird CV (PDF)

Courses Taught

I am an applied cultural anthropologist with a special interest in environmental education and collaborative research with community partners. My current research is focused on children’s environmental learning both in China and here in the Pacific Northwest.

Publications

  • R. Efird and L. Lynn, eds. "Indigenous Perspectives and Environmental Education: Connecting Youth with Plants, Places and Cultural Traditions." Clearing: Journal of Environmental Education in the Cascadian Bioregion (Summer 2022).
  • Efird, R. 2020. “Nature for Nurture in Urban Chinese Childrearing.” A. Esarey, M.A. Haddad, S. Harrell and J. Lewis, eds. Greening East Asia: The Rise of the Eco-Developmental State. Seattle: University of Washington Press
  • National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Public Intellectual Program Fellow (2014-2016)
  • Fulbright Senior Research Scholar-China (2011-2012)
  • Co-creator of Seattle University's taqwsheblu Vi Hilbert Ethnobotanical Garden
  • Efird, R. "Nature for Nurture: Environmental Education, Nature Experience and the Healthy Child." Harvard University: Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. September 13, 2018.
  • Efird, R. "Perceiving Nature's Personhood: Anthropological Enhancements to Environmental Education." Kopnina H. and Shoreman-Ouimet E., eds. Handbook of Environmental Anthropology. (New York: Routledge, 2016).
  • Efird, R. "Learning Places and 'Little Volunteers': An Assessment of Place- and Community­-based Education in China." Environmental Education Research. Vol. 21, No. 8 (2015): 1143- 1154.
  • Lee, J. C.-K . and Rob Efird, eds. Schooling for Sustainable Development across the Pacific. (Dordrecht: Springer, 2014).
  • Efird, R. "'Learning the Land beneath Our Feet: The Place of NGO-led Environmental Education in Yunnan Province." Journal of Contemporary China. Vol. 21, No. 76 (2012).
  • Efird, R. "Learning By Heart: An Anthropological Perspective on Environmental Learning in Lijiang." Kopnina and Ouimet, eds. Environmental Anthropology Today (London: Routledge, 2011).
  • Efird, R. "Guest Editor's Introduction: NGOs and Institutions of Higher Education in China's Environmental Learning." Chinese Education and Society, Volume 43, Number 2 (March/April 2010).
  • Efird, R. "Distant Kin: Japan's War Orphans and the Limits of Ethnicity.'' Anthropological Quarterly (Summer 2010).
  • Efird, R. "Japan's 'War Orphans': Identification and State Responsibility." Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2 (2008): 363-388