Sasha Davis
Writer, researcher, and educator specializing in experiential learning
Education
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University: State College, Pennsylvania. 2003.
Degree in Geography.
M.A. Northern Arizona University: Flagstaff, Arizona. 2000.
Degree in Rural Geography.
B.S. Northern Arizona University: Flagstaff, Arizona. 1994.
Degree in Geography, minor in Ecology, and completion of Pre-Med curriculum.
Experience
2015 -2026: Professor and Chair: Department of Environmental Studies and Sustainability, Keene State College (promoted to associate 2018, Chair since 2022, promoted to full professor 2023)
2010 to 2015: Assistant Professor: Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Hawai‘i-Hilo
2003 to 2008: Assistant Professor: Department of Geography, University of Vermont.
Spring 2003: Instructor: Department of Geography, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Spring 2001—May 2002: Instructor: Schreyer Honors College, Pennsylvania State University.
Publications
Books:
Davis, Sasha (2025) Replace the State: How to Change the World When Elections and Protests Fail. University of Minnesota Press. https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517919528/replace-the-state/
Davis, Sasha (2020) Islands and Oceans: Reimagining Sovereignty and Social Change. University of Georgia Press – Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation book series. https://ugapress.org/book/9780820357355/islands-and-oceans/
Davis, Sasha (2015) The Empires’ Edge: Militarization, Resistance, and Transcending Hegemony in the Pacific. University of Georgia Press – Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation book series. https://ugapress.org/book/9780820347356/the-empires-edge/
Articles Published in Peer Reviewed Journals:
Yamazaki, Takashi and Sasha Davis (2025) “Rethinking relational geopolitics in contested islands and seas: Theoretical and empirical considerations” Geopolitics
Davis, Sasha and Genevieve Joly (2025) “Constructing island-centered securities: towards assemblages of decolonization and well-being in the Pacific” Geopolitics https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14650045.2024.2439280
Davis, Sasha. (2023) “Beyond obstruction: Blockades as productive reorientations” Antipode. 55 (5) https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12722
Grydehøj, Adam, Aká Bendtsen, Michael Bevacqua, Megumi Chibana, Yaso Nadarajah, Ping Su, Renee Wright, and Sasha Davis, (2021) “Practicing decolonial political geography: Island perspectives on neocolonialism and the China threat discourse” Political Geography. 85. Article 102330 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102330
Davis, Sasha, Lexi Munger, and Hannah Legacy (2020) “Someone else’s chain, someone else’s road: U.S. military strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and island agency in the Pacific” Island Studies Journal. 15 (2) 13-36 https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.104
Davis, Sasha and Jessica Hayes-Conroy (2018)“Invisible radiation reveals who we are as people: environmental complexity, gendered risk, and biopolitics after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.” Social and Cultural Geography. 19 (6) 720-740. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2017.1304566
Davis, Sasha. (2017) “Apparatuses of occupation: Translocal social movements, states and the archipelagic spatialities of power” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 42 (1) 110-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12152
Davis, Sasha. (2017) “Sharing the struggle: constructing transnational solidarity in global social movements” Space and Polity 21 (2) 158-172 DOI: 10.1080/13562576.2017.1324255
Pearo, Zach and Sasha Davis (2017) “Rural Resilience: Managing climate change and economic shifts in New England’s tourism-dependent communities” The Northeastern Geographer, 9: 1-15.
Davis, Sasha, Anshuka, Krista Aoki, Michael Cook, Sabelo Duley, Molly Huff, and Chalyn Logan. (2013) “Managing risk and allure at volcanoes in Hawaii: How close is too close?” GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 12 (2) 166-174.
Davis, Sasha. (2012) “Repeating islands of resistance: Redefining security in militarized landscapes” Human Geography, 5 (1) 1-18.
Davis, Sasha. (2011) “The US military base network and contemporary colonialism: Power projection, resistance and the quest for operational unilateralism” Political Geography, 30: 215-224.
Davis, J. Sasha. (2007). “Scales of Eden: Conservation and Pristine Devastation on Bikini Atoll” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 25 (2): 213-235.
Davis, J. Sasha (2007) Introduction to “Military Natures: Militarism and the Environment” special issue of GeoJournal 69 (3) 131-134.
Davis, J. Sasha, Jessica Hayes-Conroy and Victoria M. Jones. (2007) “Military Pollution and Natural Purity: Seeing Nature and Knowing Contamination in Vieques, Puerto Rico” GeoJournal, 69 (3): 165-179.
Davis, J. Sasha. (2005). “Representing place: ‘Deserted isles’ and the reproduction of Bikini Atoll.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95 (3): 607-625.
Davis, J. Sasha. (2005). “‘Is it really safe? That’s what we want to know’: Science, stories and dangerous places.” Professional Geographer, 57 (2): 213-221.
Davis, J. Sasha and Duarte Morais. (2004) “Factions and Enclaves: Small Towns and Socially Unsustainable Tourism Development.” The Journal of Travel Research, 43: 3-10.
Davis, Kathleen Kleman, J. Sasha Davis, and Lorraine Dowler. (2004). “In Motion, Out of Place: The Public Spaces of Tourette Syndrome” Social Science and Medicine, 59 (1): 103-112.
Davis, J. Sasha (2001). “Commentary: Tourism Research and Social Theory: Expanding the Focus.” Tourism Geographies 3 (2): 129-138.
Other Publications:
Davis, Sasha (2021) “The Myth of ‘Spheres of Influence’ in the Pacific Region: How a faulty geographical mindset is leading policymakers astray in the region” The Diplomat. Sept 29 2021. https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/the-myth-of-spheres-of-influence-in-the-pacific-region/
Davis, Sasha (2021) “Commentary: Islands, Modernity, and Other Worlds that Never End.” Dialogues in Human Geography. https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206211017441
Review of To Master the Boundless Sea:The U.S. Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire , (2020) by Jason W. Smith in Journal of American History
Grydehøj, Adam, Sasha Davis, Rui Guo, and Huan Zhang (2020) “Guest editorial: Silk Road archipelagos: Islands in the Belt & Road Initiative” Island Studies Journal 15(2) 3-12. https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/default/files/ISJGrydehojSilkRoadArchipelagos.pdf
Davis, Sasha and Jessica Hayes-Conroy (2017). “Living with contamination: alternative perspectives and lessons from the Marshall Islands.” in Unravelling the Fukushima Disaster editors Mistuo Yamakawa and Daisaku Yamamoto, 121-136 New York: Routledge. (book chapter in edited volume).
Review of Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands (Second Edition), Ed. by Stephen Levine in Island Studies Journal. 2017
Review of Proving Grounds: Militarized Landscapes, Weapons Testing, and the Environmental Impact of U.S. Bases. Ed. by Edwin A. Martini in Journal of American History 2016.
Review of Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography and Restoration of America’s Forgotten Pacific Islands. By Mark J. Rauzon in Island Studies Journal. 2016
Review of Islandology: Geography, Rhetoric, Politics by Marc Shell in Social & Cultural Geography 2015.
Davis, Sasha (2015) “When the bombs stop: Environmental issues after military base closures.” Published paper from symposium: “Comprehensive studies on
physical and social impacts from environmental damage caused by the US military base activities” Naha, Okinawa. December 7, 2013.
Review of Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and Environment-Development Studies by Karl Zimmerer and Thomas Bassett in Ethics, Place and Environment 7 (3) 2004.
Review of Walt Disney and the Quest for Community. By Steve Mannheim in Regional Studies 38 (1) 2004.
Review of Reimagining the American Pacific: from South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond. By Rob Wilson in Cultural Geographies 9 (3) 2002.
Selected Presentations
November 2025 Invited colloquium on my book “Replace the State” at Department of Geography, University of Colorado-Boulder
November 2025 Invited public lecture on my book “Replace the State” at Department of Public Policy, University of Colorado-Denver
November 2025 Invited colloquium presentation Geography Graduate Student Society at University of Guelph (virtual)
March 2025 “More than maps: Sea level rise vulnerability, perception, and capacity on colonized shores.” Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers Detroit, MI.
April 2024 “Island sovereignties and alternative regional assemblages in the Pacific” Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers Honolulu, HI
April 2024 “Leaking Lethality: Surviving ‘friendly states’ in the Pacific” Political Geography Pre-Conference. University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. Honolulu, HI.
April 2024 “Costs of Restricted Sovereignty and Militarization in Okinawa and Marshall Islands” presentation for Costs of War Project meeting (Virtual).
April 2023 “Constructing island-centered assemblages of security”. International Geographical Union Thematic Conference: Islands in Relations: Conflicts, Sustainability, and Peace. Osaka Metropolitan University. Osaka, Japan
Feb 2022 “The difference that sovereignty makes: COVID policies, connectivity, and self-determination in six U.S.-affiliated jurisdictions” (with Genevieve Joly). Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers (Virtual)
April 2021 “The out-of-place ocean: Maps, floods, and representing climate change on dynamic shores” (with Bryanna Weigel). Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers (Virtual)
November 2019 “Constructing sovereignties beyond the state: Counter-occupations and solidarity in the islands of American Empire.” Annual Meetings of the American Studies Association. Honolulu, HI
April 2019 “Blockades, occupations, and reorientations: chasing alternative political assemblages in the Pacific.” Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers. Washington, DC
April 2017 “From islands of autonomous resistance to archipelagos of counter-governance.” International Geographical Union Thematic “Geographies of Peace” conference. La Paz, Bolivia
April 2017 “Hegemony is in the details: political transition and the view from the Island Pacific” (poster presentation). Political Geography Conference at Harvard University Center for Government and International Studies. Cambridge, MA
March 2017 “From resistance to counter-governance: How the geographies of transnational social movements can inspire U.S. activism.” Invited public lecture by the Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University. Philadelphia, PA
October 2016 “Chinese outbound tourism and the shifting balance of power in the Asia-Pacific Region” NESTVAL (regional geography conference). Sherbrook, QC.
November 2014. “Comparison of Vieques, Puerto Rico and Jeju Island struggles with militarization.” Public lecture in Gangjeong, South Korea.
December 2013 “When the bombs stop: Environmental issues after military base closures.” Invited speaker at symposium: “Comprehensive studies on physical and social impacts from environmental damage caused by the US military base activities” Naha, Okinawa.
September 2012. Militarization, Resistance and Transcending Hegemony in the Pacific. Invited public lecture at Geography Department of the University of Hawaii – Manoa. Honolulu, HI.
Feb. 2008 “Island natures: Visions of paradise and scales of control” invited public lecture at Duke University Marine Lab. Beaufort, NC
Nov. 2006 “Islands of the Empire: modern colonialism and the places of global power projection” invited public lecture at Clark University. Worcester, MA.
Feb. 2006, “American militarism and the creation of places worth destroying.” Invited public lecture at Vassar College. Poughkeepsie, NY.
Jan 2005, “Militarism, Modernity and ‘Pristine wilderness’: Environmental preservation and post-colonial desires at US bombing ranges.” Fourth International Conference of Critical Geography. Mexico City, Mexico.
Awards, fellowships and honors
2022/2023 selected participant in UNH/New Hampshire Sea Grant CoastWise Program (a year-long, cohort-based immersion program for professionals working on coastal resilience and marine resource management issues in the state).
2020 $2,946 grant from the Keene State College Faculty Development Fund for study in Hawai‘i, Guåhan (Guam), and the Marshall Islands titled “Protecting which nation? Pacific sovereignties and sacrifice in the COVID-19 pandemic.”
2018 $6,354 Fellowship from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation for study in China in summer of 2018.
2018 $1,334 grant from the Keene State College Faculty Development Fund for travel to present at the American Studies Conference in Honolulu, HI in November 2019.
2104, $4,555 Grant from Human Geography Institute for research in Okinawa and South Korea in November 2014.
2012, $6,900 Seed Money Grant from the University of Hawaii-Hilo for research in the summer of 2013 in Fukushima, Japan
2010, $7,200 Seed Money Grant from the University of Hawaii-Hilo for research in the summer of 2011 in Guam, the Philippines and Okinawa.
2007, $15,000 Faculty Research Support Award from University of Vermont, College of Arts and Sciences for research in the summer of 2007 in Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Japan, Marshall Islands and Hawaii.
2006, $954 from University of Vermont Service/Learning Office to prepare service component of study abroad class in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
2006, Funded participant in NYU Faculty Resource Network seminar “America’s Paradise”: Re-Imagining Hawai’i hosted by Chaminade University, Honolulu, HI.
2004, $1655 award for research in Vieques, Puerto Rico from University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Fund.
2004, Finalist for Nystrom Award (award from the AAG for a paper from a dissertation)
2002, Muan/Wilson Award for outstanding graduate student in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Pennsylvania State University.
2001, Ruby Miller Grant for travel to Marshall Islands for research, Penn State University.
Links to reviews of my book “The Empires’ Edge” (2015)
By Teresia Teaiwa in The Contemporary Pacific
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/48492/1/v28n2-521-523-bookrev.pdf
By Catherine Lutz in the Island Studies Journal:
https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/default/files/ISJ-11-2-BOOK-REVIEWS.pdf
By Alison J. Williams in the Geographical Review:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1931-0846.2015.12141.x/abstract
Sasha Davis Projects 