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Vanessa Raditz

Photo:
MA Student, Geography
PhD Candidate, Educational Theory and Practice
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Institute for Women's Studies

Contact info

Office:
Institute for Women's Studies, Gilbert Hall
Office Hours:
Student Office Hours: https://calendly.com/vanessaraditz/officehours
Research Collaborations: https://calendly.com/vraditz/firefloodfilm
CV:

My research explores the cultural geographies of queer ecojustice movements. Using collaborative documentary film and other critical visual methodologies, I address the contextual vulnerability of multiply-marginalized queer, trans, and two-spirit communities to climate change disasters, as well as the lessons for the climate justice movement that come from our communities' resilience and histories of struggle for liberation.

I am inspired by decolonial and abolitionist theories that center the healing and reweaving of mind, body, spirit, land, community, place, and home in the collective liberation of people and the planet. Using queer as both verb and noun, I seek to understand the ontology, epistemology and praxis of the queer ecojustice movement: what are the worldviews, ways of knowing, theories, and strategies for the transformation of the world that emerge from queer ecojustice organizers whose embodiments and actions disrupt normative status-quo ways of knowing and being?

I believe this work must be done in collaboration and accompaniment with other queer, trans, and two-spirit people on the frontline of disaster and the forefronts of change. I prioritize questions that emerge from my relationships in community and I seek collaborative methods that engage a climate justice praxis through the research. 

Selected Publications:

Goldsmith, L., Méndez, M., & Raditz, V. (2023). Disaster response must help protect LGBTQ+ communities. Issues Sci Technol.

Raditz, V. (2023). Visibilizing Queer Resilience. Eds. Rice, J.L., Long, J., Levenda, A. Urban Climate Justice: Theory, Praxis, Resistance. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Raditz, V., & Martinez, J. (2023). 'I am cringe, but I am free': A Reparative Reading of Assuming the Ecosexual Position. Ethics & the Environment, 28(1), 105-123.

Goldsmith, L., Raditz, V., & Méndez, M. (2022). Queer and present danger: understanding the disparate impacts of disasters on LGBTQ+ communities. Disasters, 46(4), 946-973.

Berne, P., & Raditz, V. (2020). To survive climate catastrophe, look to queer and disabled folks. Ed. Wong, A. Disability visibility: First-person stories from the twenty-first century. Vintage.

Articles Featuring Vanessa Raditz

Congratulations to Ph.D. student, Vanessa Raditz, for being selected as one of the 2022 Campus Sustainability Grant winners! Drawn from the Student Green Fee, the Campus Sustainability Grant awards up to $5,000 to current UGA students who wish…

Major Professor

Jerry Shannon

Associate Professor

Committee Members

Andrew J. Grundstein

Professor

External Committee

Stephanie Jones

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