Kirsten Rudestam focuses on water policy and management, sense of place with respect to resource management practices, and the role of affect and emotion in environmental politics. Her doctoral research was an investigation of the dynamics of contested land and water use practices within the Deschutes Basin of Central Oregon. Prior to her doctoral research, she spent two years co-directing the University of Oregon's Environmental Leadership program. She has over 10 years of experience teaching environmental field courses for undergraduate college students in the western United States and is strongly motivated by her commitment to inclusive interdisciplinary environmental education.
Experience
As a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellow (2021-2023), Kirsten will join the SEE Lab via Royal Roads University. Her research will examine institutionalized “feeling rules” (Hochschild 1979) around water scarcity and climate change discussions in water learning environments. Because professors establish the culture for generations of water activists and policy-makers, Kirsten will interview and observe faculty members at University of Victoria and University of Waterloo to determine the role of emotion in water decision making and pedagogy, and to explore the reproduction of feeling rules in the culture of the discipline. This research contributes to Wolfe’s Partnership Development Grant (2021-2023).
Education
2017
PhD in Sociology
University of California Santa Cruz
2006
MS in Environmental Science
University of Oregon
2001
BA in Environmental Studies
Brown University
Publications
Rudestam, K. (2019). “Narratives that Travel: Anxiety, Affect and Water Politics in the Deschutes Watershed of Central Oregon.” Chapter 14 in Creative Approaches to Understanding Human Water Relations. Edited by Liz Roberts and Katherine Jones: Routledge Press.
Rudestam, K. (lead author), Brown, A. and Langridge, R. (2018). “Exploring “Deep Roots:” Politics of Place and Groundwater Management Practices in the Pajaro Valley, California.” Journal of Society and Natural Resources.
Brown, A., Langridge, R. and Rudestam, K. (2016). “Coming to the Table: Collaborative Governance in Groundwater Decision-making in Coastal California.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.
Rudestam, K. (lead author), Brown, A. and Langridge, R. (2015). “‘The commons as a dynamic variable in understanding strategic alliances of scale: a groundwater case study in Pajaro Valley, California.” Environmental Science and Policy. 52: 33-40.
Kargle, A., Kwan, Y., McCullen, C., Rudestam, K. and D. Takagi. (2015). “Inequalities Reinterpreted: The Importance of Affect for Understanding Inequality.” Rutgers Journal of Sociology. (Succuessfully reviewed and accepted but the special issue was never published due to staffing issues. Available for free download at Academia.edu).
Rudestam, K. (lead author) and Langridge, R. (2014). “Sustainable Yield in Theory and Practice: Bridging Scientific and Mainstream Vernacular.” Groundwater. 52(1): 90-99.
Rudestam, K. (2012). “Loving Water, Resenting Regulation: Water Use, Abuse and Livelihoods in the Willamette Watershed of Western Oregon.” Society and Natural Resources. 27(1): 20-35.
Rudestam, K. (lead author), Brown, P., Zarcadoolas, C., and Mansell, C. (2004). “Children’s Asthma Experience and the Importance of Place.” Health Journal Vol 8(4): 423-444.