Edwin Schmitt

Visiting Scholar/Faculty/Researcher

[email protected]

Long Bio

Edwin (Eddie) Schmitt is trained as an Environmental Anthropologist with a focus on applied, linguistic and historical topics. He received his MA in Applied Anthropology from Oregon State University and his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Personal Website

Eddie's past research interests included commodification of agriculture and cultural heritage, linkages between agricultural and religious systems, ethnic tourism and hydropower development in Southwest China. For his doctoral research he conducted ethnographic and survey-based research on environmental consciousness in the city of Chengdu. As a postdoc at the University of Oslo he examined how the historical production of energy is connected to the formation of and changes within the broader political power structures found throughout Chinese society. As Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Studies he conducted research on management practices in European national parks, contentious heritage regarding the demolition of the Y-block in the Oslo Government Quarter, and the memorialization of trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.

Although much of his work has dealt with the theoretical issues around culture, ecology and power, he purposely designs his projects to have an applied angle in the hope that what he learns could be beneficial to the communities he studies.

As a postdoc at ASU, Eddie will be working in the re-Engineered Lab led by Darshan Karwat and will be managing Project Confluence. This project will explore the collaborations between community groups and engineers/scientists at ASU as they find ways to solve environmental, climate and energy justice issues in Arizona.

Eddie generally uses his vacations to do other kinds of fun ethnographic work, most recently he has been following a group of long-distance runners around the globe as they participate in the World Marathon Majors.

Education

Ph.D. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Anthropology 2017

M.A. Oregon State University, Applied Anthropology 2011

B.S. University of Washington-Seattle, Economics 2006

B.A. University of Washington-Seattle, Asian Languages and Literature 2006

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Books:

E. Tzaneva, Fang Sumei and Edwin Schmitt (editors). 2012. Disasters and Cultural Stereotypes. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

Macias, Madison, Jorge Morales Guerrero, Edwin Schmitt, Anthony Levenda, Jean Boucher and Darshan Karwat. Under Review. “The Engineering and Scientific Challenges of Environmental Justice Organizations in the US: A Qualitative Study” Journal of Cleaner Production

Sveinung, Berg and Edwin Schmitt. Under Review. “Exploring Contentious Heritage through the Demolition of the Y-block” Heritage and Society

Schmitt, Edwin. 2022. “Compressed Environmentalism: Greening a Digital Chengdu through Smart Housing Estates and Big Data” British Journal of Chinese Studies. In Press.

Laia Colomer and Edwin Schmitt. 2022. “Mapping Memorialization of Pandemic Experiences. Care, Stewardship, and Guardianship” In Alexandra Bounia and Andrea Witcomb (eds.) The Ethics of Collecting Trauma: The Role of Museums in Collecting and Displaying Contemporary Crises, Routledge. In Press.

Schmitt, Edwin, Yuqian Shao, Yuehan Wang, Baoyang Zhao and Yushi Gao. 2021. “A Mixed-Methods Approach for Evaluating the Influence of Sustainable Urban Renewal Projects on Environmental Perception and Action in Chengdu.” Journal of Applied Social Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/19367244211042553.

Yuan, Shang and Edwin Schmitt. 2020. “The Retreat of The Human: Processes of Rewilding after Warfare in Sichuan, China” Environment and History. https://doi.org/10.3197/096734020X15900760737310

Schmitt, Edwin and Li Hongtao. 2019. “Engaging Truthiness and Obfuscation in a Political Ecology Analysis of a Protest against the Pengzhou Petroleum Refinery” Journal of Political Ecology. 26: 579-598 https://doi.org/10.2458/v26i1.23118

Tilt, Bryan, Shaoyue Li and Edwin Schmitt. 2019. “Fertility Trends Sex Ratios and Son Preference among Han and Ethnic Minority Households in Rural China” Asian Anthropology. 18(2): 110-128 https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2019.1588199

Schmitt, Edwin. 2019. “Measuring Micrometers of Matter and Inventing Indices: Entangling Social Perception within Discrete and Continuous Measurements of Air Quality” Social Science 8(2): 48 https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8020048

Schmitt, Edwin. 2018. “Living in an Ecological Civilization: Ideological Interpretations of an Authoritarian Mode of Sustainability in China”. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines. 10(2): 69–91 https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/04-Schmitt.pdf

Schmitt, Edwin. 2014. “The Influence of Inter-ethnic Relations on Historical Shifts in the Value Systems of Agricultural Goods and Practices among the Ersu and Han of Sichuan, China” Cahier d’Extrême Asie, 23: 105-135 https://doi.org/10.3406/asie.2014.1436

Schmitt, Edwin A. 2014. "The History and Development of De-swiddening among the Ersu in Sichuan, China," Himalaya, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 34:2, Article 12.

Tullos, Desiree, Eric Foster-Moore, Darrin Magee, Bryan Tilt, Aaron Wolf, Edwin Schmitt, Francis Gassert and Kelly Kibler. 2013. Biophysical, Socioeconomic, and Geopolitical Vulnerabilities to Hydropower Development on the Nu River, China. Ecology and Society 18 (3): 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05465-180316

Non-Peer Reviewed Articles

Schmitt, Edwin and Laia Colomer. 2021. “Coping with the Pandemic: Exploring COVID-19 Memorials around the World” ScienceNorway January 16th, 2021. https://sciencenorway.no/covid19-history-researchers-zone/covid-19-memorials-how-people-around-the-world-are-remembering-those-who-have-died/1798348

Schmitt, Edwin. 2020. “Is it ok to publish racist representations if your intention was for it to be funny and cute?” ScienceNorway https://sciencenorway.no/communication-media-opinion/is-it-ok-to-publish-racist-representations-if-your-intention-was-for-it-to-be-funny-and-cute/1704978

Schmitt, Edwin. 2018. “雾霾科普的困境与机遇 (The Trials and Opportunities of Disseminating Scientific Knowledge about Air Pollution to the Public)” 眺望窗外的天空(A Window on the Sky: Chinese and Foreign Scholars Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and its Governance). 浙江大学出版社，杭州.

Schmitt, Edwin. 2017. “关于汶川地震中谣言和信息传播的反思 (Reflections on the Transmission of Rumor and Information during the Wenchuan Earthquake)” 李永祥编辑，灾害人类学及防灾减灾 (Disaster Anthropology and Disaster Prevention). 云南大学出版社.

Fuchs, Daniel and Edwin Schmitt. 2017. “How China’s Environmental Crackdown Is Affecting Business Owners and Workers: The Case of Chengdu” Made in China 2(4): 44-49. http://www.chinoiresie.info/how-china-environmental-crackdown-is-affecting-business-owners-and-workers-the-case-of-chengdu/

Schmitt, Edwin. 2017. “Burning Coal in Tangshan: Energy Resources as Commons” Made in China 2(2): 42-45. https://www.chinoiresie.info/burning-coal-in-tangshan-energy-resources-as-commons/

Schmitt, Edwin. 2017. “Ecoambiguity: Environmental Crises and East Asian Literature by Karen Thornber” (Book Review). Journal of Political Ecology. 24.

Schmitt, Edwin. 2017. “Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Ecoaesthetics by Dan Smyer Yu” (Book Review). Asian Anthropology 16(1).

Zinda, John, Kelly Hopping, Edwin Schmitt, Emily Yeh, Stevan Harrell, and Eugene Anderson. 2016. China's ecosystems: Sacrificing the poor. Science, 353 (6300), pp.657-658. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah4960

Schmitt, Edwin. 2016. “The West as the Other: A Genealogy of Chinese Occidentalism, by Wang Mingming” (Book Review). Asian Anthropology. 15(3).

Schmitt, Edwin. 2014. “Tragic Spirits: Shamanism, Memory and Gender in Contemporary Mongolia, by Manduhai Buyandelger” (Book Review). Asian Anthropology, 13(1): 86-87.

Schmitt, Edwin. 2013. “Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality among China's New Rich by John Osburg” (Book Review). Asian Anthropology. 12(2):181-183.

Tilt, Bryan and Edwin Schmitt. 2013. “The Integrative Dam Assessment Model: Reflections from an Anthropological Perspective” Practicing Anthropology 35(1): 4-7

Schmitt, Edwin, and Bryan Tilt. 2012. “Dam-Induced Displacement in China’s Nu River Valley: Villager Perspectives and Vulnerability.” In Distasters and Cultural Stereotypes, edited by E. Tzaneva with Edwin Schmitt and Fang Sumei. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pp. 184-204

Translations

Li, Hongtao and Huang Shunming. 2021. The Nanjing Massacre and the Making of Mediated Trauma (记忆的纹理：媒介、创伤与南京大屠杀). Trans. Xinyue Chang and Edwin Schmitt. London: Routledge. doi.org/10.4324/9781003199366

Sichuan Provincial Cultural Bureau. 2009. Tianfu Treasures: The Elite Cultural Relics amongst Collections in the Sichuan Museums. (天府藏珍 四川馆藏文物精华). Trans. Edwin Schmitt. Sichuan Kexue Jishu Chubanshe.

Thesis

Schmitt, Edwin. 2016. The Atmosphere of an Ecological Civilization: A Study of Ideology, Perception and Action in Chengdu, China. Ph.D. Dissertation-CUHK.

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1964279741/CEA2A6D530F047A0PQ/1

Schmitt, Edwin. 2011. Commodification in an Ersu Tibetan Village of Sichuan China. M.A. Thesis-OSU.

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/pk02cd553

Blogs/Podcasts (Invited Posts):

Schmitt, Edwin and Joseph Bosco. Solar Energy in China. Technoviews Podcast, April 21st, 2019.

https://www.scitechasia.org/podcasts/solar-energy-in-china

Schmitt, Edwin. Weekly Energy News Update. Energy Anthropology Network Blog.

https://ean.hypotheses.org/838 (generally a weekly post May-Dec. 2017)

艾迪. 2016. 我在挪威“买买买”: 环保不剁手 (一). 成都根与芽. November 11th, 2016. http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/I0Rdx8PjB3YLBaCLNG14Ag

艾迪. 2016. 我在挪威“买买买”: 环保不剁手 (二). 成都根与芽. November 13th, 2016.

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/CpxQFi9_9ZdWztVwRE24tg

Schmitt, Edwin. 2012. From Conservation to Eco-Toilets to Organic Markets: The Evolution of a Chinese Environmental NGO. Engagement Blog: Anthropology and Environment Society. November 12th, 2012.

https://aesengagement.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/from-conservation-to-eco-toilets-to-organic-markets-the-evolution-of-a-chinese-environmental-ngo/

Schmitt, Edwin 2012. What would a Carbon Neutral Global Anthropology look like? Global Anthropology: A Blog of the World Council of Anthropological Associations