Overview
Emma Harter is a Ph.D. student in sociocultural anthropology. Originally from rural Vermont, her research examines the intersections of housing, poverty, and energy in/justice in rural Northeastern United States, with a particular focus on materially permeable homes—such as old farmhouses, deteriorating rental units, uninsulated mobile homes—and the experiences of residents (and the occasional nonhuman occupant) therein. Her research is informed by the need to think critically about energy and economic in/justice and the possibilities for living well together in increasingly precarious, highly connected, more-than-human worlds.
Prior to joining the Ph.D. program at Cornell, Emma worked as a climate-justice community organizer in rural Vermont and a farmworker. She graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology, Political Ecology and a minor in Feminist and Intersectional Science and Technology Studies. She seeks to weave these educations together throughout her research and writing.