Chelsea Rozanski
Positions
Sessional Instructor
Contact information
I'm looking for...
Learning opportunities
Postdoctoral Fellowships; Research Assistantships
Background
Educational Background
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2025
B.A. (Distinction) Anthropology, University of Delaware, 2014
B.A. Women and Gender Studies, University of Delaware, 2014
Biography
My research examines regenerative and community-based food systems, with a particular focus on relational foodways, land stewardship, and social cooperation. Using ethnographic and participatory methodologies grounded in critical agrarian studies and feminist political ecology, my work explores how alternative agrarian communities navigate sustainability, justice, and decolonial governance. I have conducted fieldwork in Canada, Peru, and Panama and engaged in agroecological initiatives across Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. My doctoral research was supported by a SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a P.E.O. International Endowed Scholarship. I previously served a five-year term as Convener of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities Food Studies Interdisciplinary Research Group and am a member of the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Teaching Academy.
Research
Areas of Research
Agrarian Citizenship; Agroecology; Alternative Food Networks; Cooperatives and Collective Agrarian Governance; Indigenous Food Sovereignty; Relational Foodways; Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture.
Care Economies; Gendered Environmental Knowledge; Intersectionality; Land, Labor, and Power; Political Ecology; Rematriation and Seed Saving; Social Reproduction.
Collaborative and Community-Based Ethnography; Digital Storytelling; Ethical Research Praxis; Indigenous and Land-Based Methods; Knowledge Co-Production; Participatory Action Research.
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| DEST 201 | Introduction to Global Development Studies | Winter 2026, F25, P23 |
| ANTH 321 | Ethnographic Overview of Latin America | Winter 2026, F22 |
| ANTH 203 | Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology | Spring 2025, W25, P24 |
| DEST 401 | Advanced Topics: Development and Decolonization in Latin America | Fall 2024 |
Projects
This project draws on long-term ethnographic and participatory research with regenerative farmers in Southern Alberta to examine how alternative agrarian communities navigate sustainability, cooperation, and land stewardship within an agro-industrial context. Grounded in critical agrarian studies and feminist political ecology, the research explores relational foodways, seed saving, and collective governance as both practical and political responses to ecological crisis and extractive agriculture.
This proposed participatory research initiative has emerged through sustained relationship-building with Indigenous partners in Treaty 7 and focuses on food and plant sovereignty, land-based knowledge, and intergenerational transmission of ecological practices. Guided by Indigenous leadership, the project is being developed using community-driven Protocols and participatory action research principles. Current activities center on co-design, ethical governance, and partnership development, with future phases contingent on community priorities and funding support.
Based on ethnographic research with camelid pastoralist communities in the Bolivian Andes, this project examines agroecological diversification as a form of resistance to market volatility, environmental precarity, and development pressures. The study highlights Aymara land-use practices, pastoral mobility, and collective knowledge systems that sustain livelihoods while challenging dominant development paradigms.
This research investigates the subsistence strategies and territorial governance of the Ese’Eja people of the Peruvian Amazon in the context of conservation policy and extractive development. Using a political ecology framework, the project documents how cultural preservation, ecological knowledge, and land rights are actively negotiated through everyday food and livelihood practices.
This collaborative research explores how transnational partnerships support agroecological resilience and cooperative governance in communities located within UNESCO La Amistad Biosphere Reserve transition zones (Panama–Costa Rica). The project examines tensions between food sovereignty initiatives and extractive development, with particular attention to governance dynamics, institutional actors, and community-led responses to environmental change.
Awards
- Endowed Scholar, P.E.O. International. 2024
- Frances Spratt Graduate Student Resident Fellowship, Calgary Institute of the Humanities. 2022
- Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. 2021
- Emerging Leader Award, UCalgary Graduate Students' Association. 2021
- Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship- International, University of Calgary. 2020
- Faculty of Graduate Studies Master's Scholarship, University of Calgary. 2020
- Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants, University of Calgary. 2020
- Graduate Citizenship Award, UCalgary Graduate Students' Association. 2020
Publications
- The Prefigurative and Settler-Colonial Politics of Relational Commons: Ethnographic insights from an urban grower collective in Alberta. Rozanski, C., & Rodriguez, S. H.. Commoning Ethnography. 7-27. (2025)
- Relational Foodways in Wild Rose Country: The Pathways, Pitfalls, and Politics of Regenerative Farming in an Agro-Industrial Complex. Rozanski, C.. https://prism.ucalgary.ca. (2025)
- Navigating the Rockies of Academia through Collective Care. Rozanski, C., Awan, L., & Gordon, M.. Building Community Through Collaborative Learning, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series. 29-36. (2025)
- Calls to Action: Co-Creating a Horizontal Teaching and Learning Environment. Rozanski, C., Rodriguez, S. H., Albright, S., Presiloski, A., Wolfe, K., & Faunt, M.. Students as Partners in Higher Education: Perspectives and Practices, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series. 39-46. (2024)
- Growing in Relation with the Land: Experiential Learning of Root and Regenerate Urban Farms. Rozanski, C. & Gavin, M.. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 1-20. (2023)
- Reflective Weavings of a Knowledge Basket: Farming and Re-Searching in Wild Rose Country. Rozanski, C.. McGill Graduate Journal of Anthropology Collective Research in Anthropology. (2023)
- Food Pedagogy for Transformative Social Change. Rozanski, C. & Samar, G. K.. Canadian Food Studies Journal/ La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation. (2021)
- From Seed to Social Agency. Rozanski, C. & Samar, G. K.. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 37-41. (2021)
- Engagement at the Intersection of Community and Academia. Rozanski, C.. Incorporating Universal Design for Learning in Disciplinary Contexts in Higher Education, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series. 17-21. (2021)
- Through a Lens of Connection. Rozanski, C.. PlatForum Journal of Graduate Students in Anthropology. 6-24. (2020)
In the News
- Calgary's Community Gardens. Calgary Journal. (2025)
- Urban Farming Apprenticeship. Young Agrarians. (2021)
- Harvests Throughout History. Podcast: Pertaining to People. (2021)
- Non-profit Farming. CBC Calgary. (2020)
- Food Access During Covid-19. The Gauntlet. (2020)
- Connected by a Thread: Undergraduate Research. University of Delaware UDaily Newspaper. (2017)
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