Katherine Hankins
Geosciences Department Professor and Chair, Affiliated Faculty, Urban Studies Institute Geosciences- Education
Ph.D. University of Georgia, Geography, 2004
M.A. University of Arizona, Geography and Regional Development, 2001
A.B. Dartmouth College, Russian Area Studies, Geography, 1997
- Specializations
Urban geography, urban politics, spatial justice, environmental justice, gentrification, neighborhood activism, place-making, community geography.
- Biography
As an urban geographer, my research examines how the city is produced and navigated by individuals, groups, and organizations, primarily at the scale of the neighborhood. I pay particular attention to how various practices and moments of urban place-making become ‘political,’ whether through organized collective action or in the ‘quiet politics’ of everyday decision-making and practice. In empirical projects in and about Atlanta, I have considered various ‘city makers’—agents of urban spatial change—in the arenas of schooling, environmental justice activism, community development, and housing. In addition, my work has drawn from and contributed to understandings of the city as a product of individual and collective mobilities, particularly as these relate to the dynamic complexities of housing access and urban social change. Methodologically, I am a qualitative researcher with a commitment to resource under-represented groups in co-producing knowledge, both in the context of advising students and in facilitating community-engaged scholarship.
My work has been funded by a variety of sources, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. I have published my research in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, The Professional Geographer, Environment and Planning A, Urban Studies, Antipode, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Social and Cultural Geography, and the Journal of Urban History, among others.
- Publications
2021 Shannon, J., K. Hankins, T. Shelton, A. Bosse, D. Scott, D. Block, H. Fischer, L. Eaves, J. Jung, J. Robinson, P. Solis, H. Pearsal, A. Rees, and A. Nicolas, “Community geography: Toward a disciplinary framework” Progress in Human Geography 45(5): 1147-1168, https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520961468
2020 Hankins, K. and S. Holloway, “Suburbanization and the making of Atlanta as the ‘Black Mecca’” in Nijman, J. (ed) The Life of North American Suburbs. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 223-244.
2020 Hankins, K. “Considering Harvey and Stone: A view from Atlanta” in Ward, K. Review symposium on: David Harvey (1989) from managerialism to entrepreneurialism: the transformation in urban governance in late capitalism, Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 71(1) 3-17 and Clarence Stone (1989) Regime Politics. Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press., Urban Geography, 41:2, 329-340.
2019 Pierce, J. and K. Hankins, “The city as ‘dissonant’ fetish: Urban (re)production, gentrification, and the conceptual limits of commodity fetishism,” Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109(5): 1529-1540. doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1545562.
2019 Hankins, K. and D. Martin, “Contextualizing neighborhood activism: Spatial solidarity in the city” in Schwanen, T. and R. van Kempen (eds.) Handbook of Urban Geography. Edward Elgar Publishing, 411-427.
2018 Boll-Bosse, A.* and K. Hankins, “‘These maps talk for us:’ Participatory action mapping as civic engagement practice” The Professional Geographer 70(2): 319-326. doi: 10.1080/00330124.2017.1366788