Joseph Nevins is an American author, activist and associate professor of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in New York.

Background

Joseph Nevins studies socio-territorial boundaries and mobility,

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

global apartheid Global apartheid is a term used to describe how Global North countries are engaged in a project of "racialization, segregation, political intervention, mobility controls, capitalist plunder, and labor exploitation" affecting people from the Global ...

and forms of political violence, political ecology, and matters of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and social justice in the aftermath of mass atrocities. He has conducted research in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and the United States-Mexico border region. Nevins' writings have appeared in numerous journalistic publications, including ''

Aljazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

'', ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'', ''

CounterPunch ''CounterPunch'' is a left-wing online magazine. Content includes a free section published five days a week as well as a subscriber-only area called CounterPunch+, where original articles are published weekly. ''CounterPunch'' is based in the Unit ...

'', ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'', the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', ''

The Progressive ''The Progressive'' is a left-leaning American magazine and website covering politics and culture. Founded in 1909 by U.S. senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. and co-edited with his wife Belle Case La Follette, it was originally called ''La Follett ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''.

Biography

Born and raised in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to a working-class family, he attended the city's public schools, including the prestigious Boston Latin School. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

in 1987. It was as a student there that he became politically active, engaging in solidarity work with

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and efforts to end

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

recruitment on campus. He received a Ph.D. in geography in 1999 from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. A long-time solidarity activist with

, Nevins is a founding member of the East Timor Action Network. He visited

many times during the years of the Indonesian occupation and was th
first American to meet
with the East Timorese guerrilla movement. Under the pen name Matthew Jardine, he authored numerous articles and two books on the war and occupation, and on U.S. and Western complicity in Indonesia's crimes. In 1999, he helped to organize and coordinate the largest non-governmental observer mission for the UN-run plebiscite in

which resulted in the country's eventual independence. A father of two girls, Nevins is also a board member of the Tucson-based BorderLinks, a bi-national organization that offers experiential educational seminars along the border focusing on the issues of global economics, militarization, immigration, and popular resistance to oppression and violence. He is also a founder and board member of

La'o Hamutuk La'o Hamutuk (Tetum for "walking together"), or the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, is an East Timorese non-governmental organisation (NGO). It is based on Avenida Dom Ricardo da Silva, , in the national capital, ...

, the East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis.The Book, by Amaranth Borsuk , City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
/ref> He is a blogger for the North American Congress on Latin America's
Border Wars
"

Major works

*''A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor'' (Cornell University Press, 2005) *''Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the Illegal Alien and the Making of the US-Mexico Boundary'' (Routledge, 2002) *''Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid'' (City Lights, 2008) *''Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary'' (Routledge, 2010)

References

External links

ZNet interview with Joseph Nevins re: Dying to LiveReview of Chris Hedges' "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"Review of Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"

Z Magazine review essay on U.S. empireEssay on ecological privilege and flyingYes! magazine essay: Kicking the Habit: Air Travel in the Time of Climate Change"Robocop: Drones at Home," ''Boston Review''NACLA review essay on the occupation of U.S.-Mexico borderlands
* ttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/02/201326101914520813.html "Ecological crisis and the need to challenge the 20 percent," ''Aljazeera English''br>In a Time of Climate Change, Boston and the World Can't Afford the Olympics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevins, Joseph American non-fiction writers American geographers American human rights activists Writers from Boston Middlebury College alumni Vassar College faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)