Contributors
Derek Alderman
Derek Alderman is a cultural and historical geographer interested in race relations, public memory, popular culture, and heritage tourism in the U.S. South. His work focuses on the rights of African Americans to claim the power to commemorate the past and shape cultural landscapes as part of a broader goal of social and spatial justice. He has written on many aspects of the southern landscape, including Civil Rights memorials (esp. streets named for Dr. King), slavery and plantation heritage tourism sites, NASCAR, Graceland and Memphis, Mayberry and film tourism, and even the cultural geography of kudzu. Derek recorded a video for Fanimal about the cultural roots of pork barbecue in the south.
Kelsey Merreck Wagner
Kelsey Merreck Wagner holds a Masters of Arts in Appalachian Studies and Sustainability from Appalachian State University, where she focused on community conservation, human-elephant relations, and arts-based activism. She is currently engaging in creative ethnographic research abroad with conservation NGO’s before application to graduate school. Her current research has centered around ecotourism and and community-based conservation at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Her CV and portfolio are available at kelseymerreckwagner.com
Bob Fischer
Bob Fischer teaches philosophy at Texas State University, where he regularly offers courses on animal and food ethics. Most of his research is on dietary and consumer ethics in relation to animals. In particular, his work explores the difficulty of determining our obligations after we factor in harms to oft-ignored beings: insects, the animals killed in plant agriculture, and so on. He’s also interested in issues at the intersection of moral psychology and animal ethics. For Fanimal, he walks us through the ethics of eating honey. Check out his video talk under Animal Experts and our special June 2018 on Dirt!
Jafet Quintero
Gino Jafet Quintero Venegas is a Mexican geographer who works at the National Autonomous University of Mexico teaching animal geographies. His two academic passions are tourism studies and critical animal studies. He has been developing some research projects about animal abuse and tourism for a few years now. Jafet has provided an interesting look at the cultural and ethical issues surrounding bullfighting. Check it out in our Animal Experts section!
