Loka Ashwood
American sociologist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Loka Ashwood (born 1984 or 1985) is an American sociologist working at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a professor of community and environmental sociology.[1] Her research focuses on rural communities and their issues.[2][3] She is a 2024 MacArthur Fellow.[3][4]
Loka Ashwood | |
|---|---|
| Awards | MacArthur Fellow (2024) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociologist |
Sub-discipline | Rural communities |
| Institutions | |
| Website | lokaashwood |
Her first book, For-Profit Democracy, investigated the relationship between rural American communities and the U.S. government through the lens of Burke County, Georgia and the construction of a nuclear power plant there.[3]
Ashwood co-wrote the 2023 book Empty Fields, Empty Promises, which explored right-to-farm laws across the United States.[3] She has criticized right-to-farm laws, saying they have been used by agricultural corporations to limit the efficacy of pollution-focused lawsuits.[5]
Life
Ashwood was raised in a farming family in Illinois.[3][6]
She graduated in 2007 from Northwestern University with a BS.[3] She interned as a reporter for U.S. Farm Report for a few years while at Northwestern.[6] She graduated in 2009 from University of Galway with an ML.[3] She did community development work at the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs.[6] She earned her PhD in 2015 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.[3]
Ashwood worked as an assistant professor at Auburn University from 2015 to 2020. In 2020 she was hired by the University of Kentucky.[3]