Ashley Dawson is Distinguished Professor of English at the College of Staten Island and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he teaches postcolonial ecocriticism and environmental humanities. Dawson has published numerous books and articles on aspects of the fight for climate and environmental justice, including, most recently, Environmentalism from Below (Haymarket, 2024) and Decolonize Conservation! (Common Notions, 2024). He wrote about capitalism and the biodiversity crisis in Extinction: A Radical History (O/R Books, 2016), and about urbanization, inequality, and climate collapse in Extreme Cities (Verso, 2017). Dawson is also a filmmaker and artist. You can find his films, articles, and links to his curated exhibits on his website.
Degrees
BA, University of the South
MA, University of Virginia
PhD, Columbia University
- Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Fight for Our Planet (Haymarket Books, 2024)
- People’s Power: Reclaiming the Energy Commons (OR Books, 2020)
- Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change (Verso Books, 2017)
- Extinction: A Radical History (OR / Counterpoint Books, 2016)
- The Routledge Concise History of Twentieth-Century British Literature (Routledge, 2013).
- Mongrel Nation: Diasporic Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Britain (University of Michigan Press, 2007).
