Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow
Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow
LaToya Eaves, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Sustainability, was named a 2023 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Eaves is one of 16 geographers in a variety of practice areas recognized for their contributions to geographic research, advancement of practice, and careers devoted to strengthening the field of geography, including teaching and mentoring. The honorary title of AAG Fellow is conferred for life.
Her research interest is at the intersections of race, gender, diaspora, critical geography and queer studies. Eaves explores the geographic imaginaries of Blackness, gender, and queerness by bringing critical approaches to the social transformation of places, the nuances of region, and lived experiences under rights-based progress narratives.
Her research has been published in Geoforum, Dialogues in Human Geography, Gender, Place & Culture, The Professional Geographer, and Journal of Geography in Higher Education, among other journals and edited volumes.
She has received numerous accolades within geography, including but not limited to the UT Department of Geography’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, Academic Advancement Award by the Tennessee LGBT+ College Conference, the Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors by the AAG, and the Enhancing Diversity Award by the AAG.
AAG Fellows serve the AAG as an august body to address, contribute to, and at times create initiatives to advance the discipline. Fellows also advise AAG on strategic directions and challenges, and mentor early- and mid-career faculty. The Fellows will be formally recognized in March at the AAG 2023 annual meeting.
Contributions to the Field of Geography
Eaves has established a record of transformative research, dynamic teaching, and dedicated mentoring in the field of geography. Her contributions to the fields of Black Geographies, Black feminism, queer geographies, and the US South are particularly noteworthy. Eaves’s rigorous and accessible scholarship pushes geography as a discipline to engage with the importance of Black geographic thought and practices in the production of space and place. Her scholarship provides accessible entry points for students to engage with Black Geographies, and she has contributed foundational texts for scholars doing work within Black Geographies literature.
One of the founders of the Black Geographies Specialty Group, Eaves’s organization and caring mentorship has transformed the discipline of geography and provided a space and academic home for Black scholars and scholars of Black Geographies. She is a generous and caring mentor as well. Her reputation within the geography community broadly and within the Black Geographies community specifically speaks to her generous mentorship of students and junior scholars, much of which is invisible, uncompensated, and unrecognized work in institutional settings. She has been committed to recognizing and honoring senior Black scholars, organizing panels, special issues of journals, and award applications to assure that these senior scholars are recognized for their foundational contributions.
Beyond the subfield of Black Geographies, Eaves has served the AAG in the roles of national councilor, treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. She also contributed to the AAG Harassment Free Task Force and the AAG Task Force on Diversifying the Curriculum in Geography, and she co-chaired the AAG New Orleans Featured Theme Committee. She has served as an editor for Dialogues in Human Geography and on numerous editorial boards.
Background information republished from the AAG website.
