Araby Smyth
Biography
I am a feminist economic and urban geographer. Prior to Mount Allison University, I worked as a Post-Doctoral Visitor on the SSHRC funded GenUrb Project at the City Institute of York University in Toronto. My research on debt, remittance economies, and decolonizing knowledge production has been funded by the Antipode Foundation, National Science Foundation (USA), and Society of Woman Geographers. I have published in journals such as Antipode, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, and I am on the Editorial Collective of ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies.
Publications
Peake L, Katsikana M, Adeniyi-Ogunyankin G, Datta A, Basu S, de Souza K, Ip P T T, Marcus J, Ponce C, Razavi N S, Smyth A and Yousuf B. 2024. 'Urban Geography in Crisis Times: Insights from a Feminist Project.' Geographica Helvetica 79(3): 283-288. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-79-283-2024.
Smyth A. 2024. 'Feminist Approaches to Debt in the City.' In Peake L, Adeniyi-Ogunyankin G and Datta A (eds) Handbook on Gender and Cities (pp 274-283). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/handbook-on-gender-and-cities-9781786436122.html
Peake L, Razavi N S and Smyth A (eds). 2024. 'Doing Feminist Urban Research: Insights from the GenUrb Project.' London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Doing-Feminist-Urban-Research-Insights-from-the-GenUrb-Project/Peake-Razavi-Smyth/p/book/9781032668680
Smyth A. 2024. 'Making Futures in Oaxaca: Remittances in the Diverse Economies of Social Reproduction.' Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 49(2): 1-13. 10.1111/tran.12659
Smyth A. 2023. 'Proceeding through Colonial Past-presents in Fieldwork: Methodological Lessons on Accountability, Refusal, and Autonomy.' Antipode 55(1): 268-285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/anti.12885
Smyth A. 2022. 'Challenging the Financialization of Remittances Agenda through Indigenous Women’s Practices in Oaxaca.' Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 54(4): 761-778. 10.1177/0308518X20977186
Linz J and Smyth A. 2021. 'The Feminist Coven at University of Kentucky.' In Gökarıksel B, Hawkins M, Neubert C and Smith S (eds) Feminist Geography Unbound: Intimacy, Territory, and Embodied Power (pp 263-267). Morgantown: West Virginia University Press. https://wvupressonline.com/node/863
Smyth A, Linz J and Hudson L. 2020. A Feminist Coven in the University. Gender, Place & Culture 27(6): 854-880. 10.1080/0966369X.2019.1681367
Smyth A. 2017. 'Re-Reading Remittances through Solidarity: Mexican Hometown Associations in New York City.' Geoforum 85 (October): 12–19. 10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.06.025
Education
- 2021 Doctor of Philosophy in Geography, University of Kentucky
- 2015 Masters of Arts in Geography, Hunter College of the City University of New York
- 2015 Certificate of Geographic Information Science, Hunter College of the City University of New York
- 2006 Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Hunter College of the City University of New York
Teaching
- GENV 1201 The Human Environment
- GENV 2221 The Developing World
- GENV 3221 Transportation Geography
- GENV 3701 Research Methods in Human Geography and Environment
- GENV 3831 Gography of Global Cities
- GENV 3991 Geographies of Finance
Research
My research agenda responds to the global challenge of building inclusive economies by examining how the financialization of debt and remittances are creating precarity in the lives of women living in areas characterized by under-development. To do this I have conducted qualitative research in Mexico and the USA since 2013, and I draw upon anti- and decolonial frameworks in feminist, Black, Latin American, and Indigenous studies, economic and urban geography, and political economy. I am currently researching and writing about Geographic Information Systems and policing in Canada and the USA, new financial service instruments and platforms in Mexico, and the Interoceanic Corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
If you are a student interested in working with me as a research or teaching assistant, or having me supervise your independent study or honors thesis, please email me your resume/CV, a brief introduction of yourself, and a brief description of the type of work you want to do.
Grants, awards & honours
| 2025 | Nominee for the Innovation, Inclusion and Outstanding Excellence in Teaching Award, Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre and Office of the Vice President Academic and Provost, Mount Allison University |
| 2024/2023 | Exchange Conference Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council |
| 2023 | Nominee for a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Department of Geography & Planning and Faulty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto |
| 2023 | "Right to the Discipline" Grant, Antipode Foundation |
| 2022 | Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Kentucky |
| 2019 | Scholar Award, Philanthropic Educational Organization |
| 2018 | Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award (#1833226), National Sciences Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences Program |
| 2018 | Evelyn L. Puitt National Fellowship for Dissertation Research Society of Woman Geographers |
| 2015 | Miriam and Saul B. Cohen Prize for Geographic Excellence, Department of Geography, Hunter College of the City University of New York |