Tatiana Schreiber, PhD

Tatiana Shreiber Tatiana Schreiber, PhDEmail Tatiana

Personal Statement

I have been interested in the connection between humans and our environment since I was kid who liked to play in the woods, in the mud, among the blackberries, and in the middle of a creek… I later became a gardener, and then fascinated with the ways we humans interact with the land through food and agriculture.

My undergraduate work was in Anthropology, Biology, Rural Sociology and Nutrition, and then, after a long series of side trips, including some 20 years working as a journalist in public radio, my graduate work in Environmental Studies at Antioch has been in the area of Environmental Anthropology. My fieldwork was with small-scale organic farmers, most of whom are Maya Indians, who produce coffee, cacao and tropical fruits in the cloud forest highlands and rainforest lowland regions of Chiapas, Mexico. In particular I examined the relationship between the organizational pluralism of farmer cooperatives and economic, ecological and cultural sustainability and resilience.

I suggest that organizations with greater religious, ideological, ethnic and language diversity may provide a more stable long-term structure than less plural organizations, with regard to ecological integrity, economic viability, and cultural survival in these times of globalization. The dissertation includes a “treatment” for a radio program, developed in collaboration with Mexican farmers, that is designed to represent their values and beliefs (such as their ecological world-views), and their work and aspirations to those who might consume the coffee and other products they have cultivated.

I hope now to produce that radio program, as well as a book and website which will support the work of these farmer organizations. In addition to my academic work, I continue to work as a journalist, and am also a small-scale farmer selling organic vegetables from my farmstand in Vermont. One of my interests in being a CTEC Associate is in fostering connections between small farmers in the U.S. and in tropical regions for mutually beneficial projects as all such farmers face similar pressures in their efforts to maintain their way of life and protect their habitats.

Education:

PhD in Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England (2005). Dissertation: Grassroots Polycultures: Sustainability and Resilience in Chiapas, Mexico

MA Mass Communications. Concentration: Radio Production, Emerson College, Boston, MA. (1988)

BS with Distinction, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Concentrations: Rural Sociology, Nutrition, Ithaca, NY (1979)

Teaching and Research:

Adjunct Faculty, Vermont College, Union Institute and University, Montpelier and Brattleboro, VT, (1998 - Present)
Environmental Studies/Social Sciences/Non-fiction Writing
Seminars: “Food, Politics, and Biodiversity” and “Interviewing Skills for Qualitative Research”

Writing Instructor and Writing Lab Coordinator, School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT, 1998.

Adjunct Instructor, School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT. 1997.
Environmental Studies I: Local and Global Issues

Research Associate, Education Development Center Newton, MA, 1989 - 1990. Principle researcher/writer “Guide to Programming for Women in Prison,” a national study highlighting exemplary programs for women in U.S. prisons in areas of health, education, vocational training, parenting and legal advocacy.

Researcher, Archives Dept., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1979- 1980. “Decision-making in farm families”

Radio and Print Journalism:

Independent radio producer/print journalist, 1984 - Present News and feature reporting on public policy, education, health, environment, and cultural topics.
List of Radio Features

Executive Producer, “Other Colors: Stories of Women Immigrants,” a radio and literacy project. A series of radio programs with accompanying anti-racism teaching kit, 1991- 1994 http://www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/culture/materials/video_audio_004.html

Editor: RESIST newsletter, Resist Foundation, Somerville, MA, 1988 - 1994 Ten page newsletter, published ten times/year. Each issue included two in-depth articles on political/social topics and related resources. Solicited articles, photos, graphics. Wrote articles, grant reports, and resource column.

Executive Producer, “Language Education for Immigrant Children.” Half-hour documentary for Horizons, National Public Radio, 1992

Executive Producer, “Places Like This: Women in Prison.” Nine part radio module series, funded by Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1988-89

Radio Project Coordinator. American Friends Service Committee , Cambridge, MA. Produced one-hour documentary on women in prison, 1987- 1988

Co-producer, WMBR, Cambridge, MA, “Say it Sister,” Monthly news and features magazine on women's issues, 1985-86

Reporter/Producer, WYSO , Yellow Springs, OH.,Co-produced and anchored daily one-hour news and public affairs program. Scheduled and interviewed guests for live segment; local reporting; features production; volunteer supervision, 1984-85

Production Assistant, WBUR Boston, MA, Editing, writing, interviewing for “Weekend Edition,” weekly four-hour news and public affairs program, 1983-84

Co-Producer. WVBR, Ithaca, NY, “Being Ourselves,” Weekly half-hour public affairs program on women's issues, 1979-83.

Radio Productions:

“Sometimes It Scares Me: Immigrant Mothers and Daughters.” Half- hour documentary for “Horizons,” NPR, 1995.

“Other Colors: Stories of Women Immigrants.” Two-half hours and six features, 1994. Aired on 70 public radio stations in 1994. Re-broadcast on Horizons, Spring, 1995. Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Paul Robeson Fund.

“Language Education for Immigrant Children,” Horizons, NPR,1992

Nine part module series on women in prison. 1988-89

“Places Like This: Women in Prison.” One-hour documentary, aired on more than sixty public and community stations. Funded by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1988

Co-producer, Annual International Women's Day, 24-hour-broadcast, WMBR, Cambridge, MA, Produced numerous live shows and trained volunteer producers. 1984-89

“Cameos: Portraits of Older Women in Yellow Springs.” Half-hour documentary commemorating lives and social activism of older women, 1985

“Proud We Can Speak.” Half-hour documentary on writing as a response to child sexual abuse, 1984

“The Rainbow Race.” Half-hour documentary on the “rainbow” coalition behind Mel King's Mayoral bid in Boston, 1983

Selected Print Publications:

Review, “Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community by Thomas A. Lyson,” Vermont History, (Vol. 73, Winter/Spring, 2005) pp102-105.

“An Unconventional View of How Our Bodies May Work,” Review of Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier, Sojourner: The Women's Forum, (Vol 26, No. 7, March 21, 2001).

“Contest Between Capital and People,” Interview with Vandana Shiva, Sojourner: The Women's Forum (Vol 25, No. 10, June, 2000.)

“Twenty Years Ago this was a Clean River,” about women environmental activists in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Sojourner: The Women's Forum, (Vol 24, No. 7, March, 1999).

“Misleading and Irresponsible: Cancer Activists Decry Harvard Report,” Resist, (Vol 6, No. 3, April, 1997).

“Breast Cancer: Organizing for Prevention,” with Rita Arditti, Resist (Vol 3, No. 9, November, 1994.

“Breast Cancer: The Environmental Connection,” with Rita Arditti, Resist (No. 246, May/June, 1992.) (This article has been updated and reprinted in several books.)

“Cetlalic: Spanish for Activists,” Resist (#239, October, 1991.)

“Rosario Ibarra: A Spirit Indomitable,” Resist (No. 238, Sept, 1991)

Guide to Programming for Women in Prison: Affirming Dignity and Building Hope, Education Development Center, July, 1991. (Full length manuscript, providing in-depth case studies of programs in U.S. women's prisons.

“End the Occupation! Jewish Feminists in the U.S. Working for Peace in the Middle East,” Resist, (No. 224, March, 1990.)

“We Need Help in Here: Health Care in Prison,” Sojourner: The Women's Forum (March, 1990.)

“AIDS Education, Nicaraguan Style,” with Lynn Stephen, Outlook: National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly, (Winter, 1989).

“Worldwide Community Radio Conference in Nicaragua,” Resist (No. 212, January, 1989.)

Co-editor, Special Supplement on Lesbians in Prison, Gay Community News (Vol 15, No. 7, 1987.)

Editor, Special Issue on Lesbians and Gays in Prison, Outlook on Justice, American Friends Service Committee (March/April, 1986.)

Selected Presentations:

“The Peasant-Ecological Vision of TojTzoTze Li Maya” Vermont College, Montpelier, VT. (1/22/06)

“Grassroots Polycultures: Sustainability and Resilience in Chiapas, Mexcio,” Poster Presentation, American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC. (12/3/2005).

“Coffee, Campesinos and Conservation in Chiapas, Mexico,” Westminster West Public Library, Westminster, VT (Nov 7, 2002.)

“Coffee, Campesinos and Conservation in Chiapas, Mexico,” Union Institute and University, Vermont College, Brattleboro, VT (Oct. 21, 2002.)

“Writer and Editor: Maintaining Voice and Integrity in Environmental Journalism and Non-fiction Writing,” Vermont College of Norwich University, Montpelier, VT (Nov 2, 1999.)

“Economic and Ecological Survival Projects in the Context of Political Conflict: Portraits from Chiapas,” Antioch University New England, Keene, NH (April 30, 1999.)

“The Zapatista Consulta: Important Exercise in Democracy, or Meaningless Political Posturing?” Vermont College of Norwich University, Montpelier, VT (April 17, 1999.)

“The Political Ecology of Coffee in Chiapas, Mexico,” Vermont College of Norwich University, (October, 1998.)

Awards and Fellowships:

Davis-Putter Scholarship for Academic Study, 1998 - 1999

Antioch University New England Reader's Digest Fellowship for Graduate Study, 1998

“Clarion,” Women's Issues Radio Program, 1995, Women in Communications, for “Other Colors: Stories of Women Immigrants.”

&rldquo;Unity Awards in Media,” Public Affairs and Social Issues Reporting, 1995 for “Other Colors: Stories of Women Immigrants.”

Honorable Mention, American Women in Radio and Television, National Documentary, 1995 for “Other Colors:Stories of Women Immigrants”.

Bronze, National Federation of Community Broadcasters. National News and Public Affairs Series, for “Other Colors Features.” 1995

“Unity Awards in Media” for Educational Reporting, for “Language Education for Immigrant Children,” Horizons, NPR. 1993

“Alice,” 1st Place, Radio News Feature, National Commission on Working Women, for “Vocational Training Programs for Women in Prison”. 1989

“Clarion,” 1st Place, Women in Communications, for “Places Like This: Women in Prison.” 1989

“Golden Reel,” 1st Place, National Federation of Community Broadcasters, for “Places Like This: Women in Prison.” 1988

2nd Place, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, for “Places Like This: Women in Prison.” 1988

2nd Place, National Commission on Working Women, for “Asian Garment Workers in Boston.” 1987

Greene County Mental Health Award. Programming on mental health issues. 1985

Trainings:

Selected Participant, Multicultural Producer's Forum, Public Radio Conference, Seattle, Washington. Funded by CPB. 1992

Selected Participant, WGBH Fellowship for Advanced Producers. Funded by CPB. 1992

Selected Participant, Mass. Radio Training Project. Funded by Mass. Council on the Arts and Humanities. 1986

Selected Participant, Western Public Radio, Mid-level Producers Workshop. Funded by CPB. 1985

Professional and Community Affiliations:

President, Board of Trustees, Present, Westminster West Public Library.

Board of Trustees, 2000 - 2005, Westminster West Public Library.

Vermont Master Gardener, 2000 - Present. Vermont Master Composter, 2004.

Garden Coordinator and Instructor, 2002 - Present. Westminster West Elementary School.

Board Member, 1991 - 1993, Association of Independents in Radio. Current Member

Member, Northeast Organic Farming Association (and writer for “Nofa Notes,” the quarterly newsletter)

Member, Society for Human Ecology.

Member, Society of Environmental Journalists.

Member, Latin American Studies Association.

Member, American Anthropology Association.