Donatella Gasparro, MSc

Please note that Donatella is no longer working for the Institute for Geography, hence she is no longer teaching nor is available to supervise theses.

Donatella’s research focused on reimagining what "the economy” means and is, starting in and from the rural areas of the South of Italy, particularly inland Molise, where she carried out engaged ethnographic research. She looked at existing diverse economic practices, with a focus on subsistence and self-production, community economies, and traditional or renewed peasant knowledges. She is interested in exploring the potential of a radical re-valuation of rural peripheries and of ways of life geared around subsistence (understood as local and direct production for needs), that put social reproduction at the centre instead of industrial capitalist growth.

 

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • Degrowth and alternative economies
  • Rural areas and economies, traditional and new peasantries, peasant agroecology, rural social movements
  • Social reproduction, subsistence economies, ecofeminism
  • Political ecology
  • Focus on Mediterranean Southern Europe, specifically the hinterlands of Southern Italy
 
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    Vorträge

    • Gasparro, Donatella : “Memories and hunches of life otherwise: re-valuing rurality and subsistence for degrowth futures, learning from the Souths-within-the-North. ”. 9th International Degrowth Conference, Zagreb, .
    • Gasparro, Donatella : “Memories and glimpses of life otherwise: revaluing rurality and subsistence for degrowth futures.” 3rd European Rural Geographies Conference, "Rural Geographies in Transition", University of Groningen, .
    • Gasparro, Donatella : “Salvaging the Future: an Introduction to Degrowth”. Limits to Growth. Lecture in preparation for the PINK! Congress, Amsterdam, .
    • Gasparro, Donatella : “Degrowth: an ecofeminist perspective”. Rethinking our Routines. Day of Sustainability 2022, Delft University of Technology, .
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    • Vita

      Akademische Ausbildung

      Master in Political Ecology, Degrowth & Environmental Justice. Organised by ICTA (Institute of Environmental Sciences) and Research & Degrowth International at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
      Master of Science in Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems - Wageningen University & Research (The Netherlands) Thesis project with Farming Systems Ecology & Farm Technology chair groups. Title: "From the Atlantic forest to the Mediterranean shrubland: a farm performance assessment and a Functional Design Framework for large-scale Successional Agroforestry Systems (SAFS)".
      Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies - University of Bari (Italy) Graduated with 110/110 Summa cum Laude Thesis: "CO2eq emissions caused by the publication of a book: offsetting locally with the right tree species", published in January 2019 in the Italian scientific journal "Economia & Ambiente"

      Beruflicher Werdegang

      WG Economic Geography and Globalization, Institute for Geography | University of Münster
      University Lecturer - Leiden University, Institute of Environmental Sciences (The Netherlands) Teacher in courses within the programs of Industrial Ecology MSc, Biology MSc / BSc, Urban Studies BA, and Governance of Sustainability MSc.
      Teaching & Education assistant - Wageningen University & Research, Farming Systems Ecology group Co-coordination and support of courses within the MSc Organic Agriculture, support in the early development of the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, and co-coordination of theses and internships.
      Research Internship - Wageningen Plant Research B.U. Field Crops Research, with the unit Agriculture of the future, and with a focus on Agroforestry.

  • Teaching

    Donatella teaches seminars that draw from critical disciplines such as political ecology, ecological economics, rural geography and environmental justice. Her courses focus, on the one hand, on repoliticizing environmental and sustainability debates, while shedding light on systemic power relations and visibilising marginalised groups and places. On the other hand, her courses explore reimaginations of prosperous futures for all, with a focus on rural space, land, and countryside imaginaries. Donatella’s courses are all held in English and try to foster peer learning, group debate and active participation, using a variety of teaching methods.

     

    Thesis supervision

    Donatella exclusively supervises theses in English. She welcomes thesis topics that overlap with her research interests, in particular political ecology, degrowth, environmental justice, rural geography and agroecology/agri-food topics. The regional focus of her expertise is predominantly, but not exclusively, Southern Europe, with a preference for rural areas. If you would like to discuss supervision, please reach out with a short description of your ideas, interests, starting literature list and potential methodology.