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Steffen Boehm

Steffen Böhm is Guest Professor at the Environmental Communication Division at the Department for Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). He's also a Professor in Organisation & Sustainability and Director of the Sustainability & Circular Economy Research Cluster at University of Exeter Business School. He was previously Professor in Management and Sustainability and Director of the Essex Sustainability Institute at the University of Essex. He's also a Visiting Professor in Renewable Energy Activism at Uppsala University. His research focuses on political economies and organization of the food-energy-water-environment nexus. He has a particular research interest in the role of business in society as well as grassroots organization models for sustainability. He was a co-founder of the open-access journal ephemera: theory & politics in organization, and is co-founder and co-editor of the new open-access publishing press MayFlyBooks as well as Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements. He has published five books: Repositioning Organization Theory (Palgrave), Against Automobility (Blackwell), Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets (Mayfly), The Atmosphere Business (Mayfly), and Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities (Routledge).

Research

Professor Boehm’s research focuses on a range of social scientific analyses of problems of environmental sustainability. He is currently engaged in the following projects, many of which have received funding from a range of sources:

Climate policy and carbon markets: A critical interrogation of the social struggles involved in forming a sustainable climate policy. Prof Boehm has developed critical understandings of the role of carbon markets, arguing that they have been a distraction and that they have had a range of unintended, negative social and environmental consequences.

Sustainability of the food system: Developing an inter-disciplinary and political economy approach to understanding issues of health, well-being, environmental sustainability, work and labour in the global food system. Prof Boehm has run funded research projects on local food systems, agroecological business and health and well-being

The water-food-energy-environment nexus: Expanding our perspective of the nexus by incorporating political, economic and social issues that are not normally considered by environmental scientists and systems engineers.

Environmental activism amongst social movements, community groups, NGOs, policymakers and company employees and managers: Expanding our perspective of activism to include domains not normally considered to be ‘activist’.

Political economy of organisation: Expanding our view of organisation to include social movement, environmental and political activities. Such a view must include an understanding of the social struggles between business, government and civil society actors who often have different interests, facing divergent material realities and practices.

In all of the above areas he’s been supervising Masters disserations and PhD theses.

Awarded Funding:

2016-2018: EPSRC: ‘Modelling supply chain optimisation in the food and beverages industry: Helping SMEs in South West England work towards the circular economy’, £483,000 (PI: Böhm).
2016-2017: British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship: ‘Environmental Activism within Energy Companies’, £98,698 (PI: Böhm).
2015-2017: Swedish Energy Agency: ‘Renewable Energy Activism’, £120,000 (PI: Annika Skoglund)
2015-2015: ESRC Nexus Networks: ‘Agroecological Business: Connecting civil society, SMEs and consumers to nature and the land’, £20,000 (PI: Böhm)
2013-2015: ESRC seminar series: ‘The Future of our Food: Resilience, Security and Justice in a Global Context’, £30,000 (PI: Böhm)
2012-2015: East of England Cooperative Society: ‘The impact of relocalised food systems on wellbeing’, £75,000 (PI: Böhm)
2012-2013: British Academy: ‘Assessing the contribution of local food systems to community wellbeing in the East of England’, £10,000 (PI: Böhm)
2011-2013: Green Light Trust: ‘Evaluating the Low Carbon Champions project’, £15,000 (PI Böhm)
2010-2012: University of Essex: ‘Ecocultures and resilience’, £50,000 (PI Böhm)
2009-2010: British Academy, ‘The Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts of Carbon Markets: The Case of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)’, £7500 (PI Böhm)
2005-2007: ESRC, ‘Alternative Media and Public Action: Organising the Global Alternative Networks’, RES-155-25-0029, £44,754.78 (PI: Andre Spicer)

 

Selected publications

All publications are available in full text at Academia.edu

Books

Böhm, S; Bharucha, Z. & Pretty, J. (eds)(2014). Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities. London: Routledge.
Böhm, S., Murtola, A.-M. and Spoelstra, S. (eds)(2012) The atmosphere business. London: Mayfly.
Böhm, S. and Dabhi, S. (eds)(2009) Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets. London: Mayfly.
Böhm, S. (2006) Repositioning Organization Theory: Impossibilities and Strategies. London: Palgrave.
Böhm, S., Jones, C., Land, C. and Paterson, M. (eds)(2006) Against Automobility. Oxford: Blackwell.

Book Chapters

Skoglund A., and Böhm S. (2016, forthcoming) ‘Wind Power Activism: Epistemic struggles in the formation of eco-ethical selves at Vattenfall’, in Bulkeley H, Paterson M, Stripple J. (eds) Towards a Cultural Politics of Climate Change: Devices, Desires and Dissent. Routledge.
Böhm, S., Misoczky, M. C., Watson, D. and Lanka, S. (2016, forthcoming) ‘Alternatives to Green Growth? Possibilities and contradictions of self-managed food production’, in Dale, G., Mathai, M. V. and Puppim de Oliveira, J. A. (eds.) Green Growth: Political Ideology, Political Economy and Policy Alternatives. Zed Books.
Böhm, S. and Misoczky, M. C. (2016) ‘Environment, Extractivism and the Delusions of Nature as Capital. In: Mir, R; Willmott, H. and Greenwood, M. (eds) The Routledge Companion To Philosophy In Organization Studies. Routledge.
Misoczky, M. C. and Böhm, S. (2015) ‘The oppressed organize against mega-mining in Famatina, Argentina: Enrique Dussel’s ethics of liberation‘. In: Pullen, A. and Rhodes, C. (eds) The Routledge Companion To Ethics, Politics and Organisations, 67.84. Routledge.
Böhm, S., Bharucha, Z. P. and Pretty, J. (2014) ‘Ecocultures: Lesson Learnt and Paths into the Future.’ In: Böhm, S., Bharucha, Z. P. and Pretty, J. (eds.) Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities. Routledge.
Böhm, S., Bharucha, Z. P. and Pretty, J. (2014) ‘Ecocultures: Towards Sustainable Ways of Living’ In: Böhm, S., Bharucha, Z. P. and Pretty, J. (eds.) Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities. Routledge.
Böhm, S. and Misoczky, M. C. (2010) ‘Mercados de carbono: imagens do norte e do sul‘. In: Misoczky, M. C., Flores, R. K., Moraes, J. (eds.) Organização e práxis libertadora, p. 131-152. Porto Alegre: Dacasa.
Böhm, S. and Dabhi, S. (2009) ‘Introduction’, in Böhm, S. and Dabhi, S. (eds.) ‘Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets‘. London: Mayfly.
Böhm, S. and Jones, C. (2009) ‘Foreword’, in H. Marcuse, Negations. London: Mayfly.
Böhm, S. and Land, C. (2009) ‘The Value of Knowledge: Five Hypotheses’, in Jemielniak, D. and Kociatkiewicz, J. (eds.) Handbook of Research on Knowledge-Intensive Organizations. Information Science Reference. Information Science Reference.
Alt.Media.Res Collective (2008) ‘Indymedia’, in Gary Anderson and Kathryn Herr (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Activism and Social Justice. London: Sage.
Böhm, S. (2007) ‘Reading Critical Theory’, in Jones, C. and ten Bos, R. (eds.) Philosophy and Organization. London: Routledge, pp 101-115.
Böhm, S. (2006) ‘The Carousel Event’, in Case, P., Lilley, S. and Owens, T. (eds.) The Speed of Organization. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press, pp 199-224.
Böhm, S. (2005) ‘Fetish Failures: Interrupting the Subject and the Other’, in Pullen, A. and Linstead, S. (eds.) Organization and Identity. London: Routledge, pp 127-161.
Böhm, S. (2005) ‘Zero’, in Jones, C. and O’Doherty, D.P. (eds.) Organize! Manifestos for the Business School of Tomorrow. Helsinki: Dvalin, pp 206-213.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Fontoura, Y., Bharucha, Z. P., & Böhm, S. (2016) ‘A transnational agri-food system for whom? The struggle for hegemony at Rio+ 20‘. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 56(4): 424-437.
Böhm, S., Brei, V. and Dabhi, S. (2015) ‘EDF Energy’s Green CSR Claims Examined: The Follies of Global Carbon Commodity Chains’, Global Networks, 15 (S1), S87–S107. (IF 1.255)
Beverungen, A., Böhm, S. and Land, C. (2015) ‘Free Labour, Social Media, Management: Challenging Marxist Organization Studies’, Organization Studies, 36(4): 473-489.
Bryant, G., Dabhi, S. and Böhm, S. (2015) ‘‘Fixing’ the climate crisis: Capital, states and carbon offsetting in India’, Environment and Planning A.
Pearse, R. and Böhm, S. (2015) ‘Ten reasons why carbon markets will not bring about radical emissions reductions’, Carbon Management.
Sutherland, N., Land, C., & Böhm, S. (2014). Anti-leaders(hip) in Social Movement Organizations: The case of autonomous grassroots groups. Organization, 21(6): 759-781.
Moog, S., Spicer, A. and Böhm, S. (2014) ‘The Politics of Multi-Stakeholder Governance Initiatives: The Case of the Forest Stewardship Council’, Journal of Business Ethics.
Brei, V. & Böhm, S. (2014) ‘‘1L=10L for Africa’: Corporate social responsibility and the transformation of bottled water into a ‘consumer activist’ commodity’, Discourse & Society, 25(1): 3-31.
Dellagnelo, E. H. L., Böhm, S. & Mendonça, P. M. (2014) ‘Organizing Resistance Movements: The Contribution of Political Discourse Theory’, RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas, 54(2): 141-153.
Misoczky, M.C. and Böhm. S. (2013) ‘Resisting neocolonial development: Andalgalá’s people struggle against mega-mining projects’, Cad. EBAPE.BR, 11(2): 311–339.
Böhm, S., Misoczky, M.C. & Moog, S. (2012) ‘Greening Capitalism? A Marxist Critique of Carbon Markets’, Organization Studies, 33(11): 1617-1638.
Beverungen, A., Böhm, S. & Land, C. (2012) ‘The poverty of journal publishing’, Organization, 19(6): 929-938.
Böhm, S. and Land, C. (2012) ‘The new ‘hidden abode’: reflections on value and labour in the new economy’, The Sociological Review, 60(2): 217–240.
Misoczky, M.C. and Böhm. S. (2012) ‘Do desenvolvimento sustentável à economia verde: a constante e acelerada investida do capital sobre a natureza’, Cad. EBAPE.BR, 10(3): 546–568.
Böhm, S. and Dabhi, S. (2011) ‘Fault lines in climate policy: what role for carbon markets?’, Climate Policy, 11(6): 1389-1392.
Frenzel, F., Böhm, S., Sullivan, S., Spicer, A., Quinton, P. and Young, Z. (2011) ‘Comparing Alternative media in North and South: The cases of IFIWatchnet and Indymedia in Africa’, Environment and Planning A, 43(5) 1173 – 1189.
Brei, V. and Böhm, S. (2011) ‘Corporate social responsibility as cultural meaning management: A critique of the marketing of ‘ethical’ bottled water’, Business Ethics: A European Review, 20(3): 233–252.
Sullivan, S., Spicer, A. & Böhm, S. (2011) ‘Becoming Global (Un)Civil Society: Counter-Hegemonic Struggle and the Indymedia Network’, Globalizations, 8(5): 703-717.
Böhm, S. and Batta, A. (2010) ‘Just doing it: Enjoying Commodity Fetishism with Lacan’, Organization, 17(3): 345-361.
Fotaki, M., Böhm, S. and Hassard, J. (2010) ‘The failure of transition: Identities, ideologies and imaginary institutions in times of global capitalist crisis’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 23(6): 637-650.
Böhm, S., Dinerstein, A.C. and Spicer, A. (2010) ‘(Im)possibilities of Autonomy: Social Movements In and Beyond Capital, the State and Development’, Social Movement Studies, 9(1): 17-32.
Böhm, S. and Land, C. (2009) ‘No Measure for Culture? Value in the New Economy’, Capital & Class, 97: 75-98.
Essers, J., Böhm, S., and Contu, A. (2009) ‘Corporate Robespierres: Ideologies of Management and Change’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 22(2): 129-140.
Böhm, S., Spicer, A. and Fleming, P. (2008) ‘Infra-Political Dimensions of Resistance to International Business: A Neo-Gramscian Approach’, Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24(3): 169-182.
Misoczky, M.C., Flores, R.K. and Böhm, S. (2008) ‘A práxis da resistência e a hegemonia da organização’, Organizaçoes & Sociedade, 45: 181-194.
Böhm, S. and Brei, V. (2008) ‘Marketing the Hegemony of Development: Of Pulp Fictions and Green Deserts’, Marketing Theory, 8(4): 339-366.
Böhm, S. (2008) ‘Adeus Lênin! De dreamworlds, catástrofes e impérios, agora e então’, Estudos de Sociologia, 23: 13-34.
Spicer, A. and Böhm, S. (2007) ‘Moving Management: Theorizing Struggles against the Hegemony of Management’, Organization Studies, 28(11): 1667-1698.
De Cock, C. and Böhm, S. (2007) ‘Liberalist Fantasies: Žižek and the Impossibility of the Open Society’, Organization, 14(6): 815-836.
Böhm, S., Jones, C., Land, C. and Paterson, M. (2006) ‘Impossibilities of Automobility’, Sociological Review, 54(s1): 1-16.
Böhm, S. and De Cock, C. (2006) ‘Everything you wanted to know about organization theory . . . but were afraid to ask Slavoj Žižek’, Sociological Review, 53(s1): 279-291.
Otto, B. and Böhm, S. (2006) ‘“The People” and Resistance Against International Business: The Case of the Bolivian “Water War”’, Critical Perspectives of International Business, 2(4): 299-320.
Böhm, S. (2005) ‘Ground Zero of the Forum: Notes on a Personal Journey’, ephemera: theory & politics in organization, 5(2): 134-145.
Fuglsang, M. and Böhm, S. (2003) ‘The Rest is Silence: A Remark on the Micro-Fascism of Critique’, ephemera: critical dialogues on organization, 3(4): 356-361.
Böhm, S. (2002) ‘The Consulting Arcade: Walking Through Fetish-Land’, Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science, 2(2): 20-35.
Böhm, S. (2002) ‘Movements of Theory and Practice’, ephemera: critical dialogues on organization, 2(4): 328-351.


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