Robert Yarbrough

Robert Yarbrough at the Strait of Gibraltar with the Atlas mountains of Morocco in the background.

Dr. Robert Yarbrough grew up in Marietta, GA (suburban Atlanta) and received his B.A. in History from Roanoke College (VA) in 1998. Dr. Yarbrough is currently an Assistant Professor in Geography in the Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University. He completed both his M.A. (2001) and Ph.D. (2006) in Geography at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Yarbrough garnered several years of experience teaching introductory geography courses while at UGA and currently teaches World Regional Geography (GEOG 1130), Human Geography (GEOG 1101), and Cultural Geography (GEOG 3530) at Georgia Southern.

Research

Dr. Yarbrough's research interests lie at the intersection of immigration studies, place and identity, and critical social geographies. His research to date has focused on immigrant residential settlement geographies in the U.S. South (including their spatial and social relations with native-born residents), processes of racialization among these newcomers, and the impact of place on immigrant identity formation and negotiation. His dissertation focused on these issues of identity construction and everyday urban geographies among Central American immigrants in Atlanta, GA. In addition to these themes, Dr. Yarbrough is currently working on a project assessing the state of geographic education in secondary schools in Georgia with Dr. Michelle Reidel, Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Georgia Southern.

Service

Dr. Yarbrough is an active member of both the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and the Southeastern Division of the AAG (SEDAAG) where he serves on the SEDAAG Honors Committee. Within the department, Dr. Yarbrough serves as co-Editor of the Departmental Newsletter along with Dr. Jonathan Geisler and co-Coordinator of the Departmental Seminar Series with Dr. Ellie Camann.

Publications:

Yarbrough, R. (forthcoming) Review of: The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, volume 2: Geography, edited by Richard Pillsbury (2006), Southeastern Geographer."

Yarbrough, R. (2003) "Latino/White and Latino/Black Segregation in the
Southeastern United States: Findings from Census 2000." Southeastern Geographer. 43(2): 207-220.

Yarbrough, R. (2003) Review of: Women, Gender, and Human
Rights: A Global Perspective, edited by Marjorie Agosin (2001), NWSA (National Women's Studies Association) Journal. 15 (2): 225-226.

Publications Under Review/In Preparation:

"Positionality and Active Learning: Confronting Privilege in Field-Exercise Design." (with Katherine B. Hankins) submitted to Journal of Geography, May 2006.

"Identities in Place: Everyday Urban Geographies and the Negotiation of Central American Immigrant Subjectivities in Atlanta, GA, USA." submitted to Ethnic and Racial Studies, May 2007.

"'Becoming Hispanic': Negotiating Racialized Identities among Central American Immigrants in Atlanta, GA, USA." for submission to GeoJournal, November 2007.

"'Fitting In' in Atlanta, GA, USA: Racialization and Central American Immigrants' Residential Settlement Geographies." for submission to Population, Space, and Place, October 2007.

"The Current State of Geography in Secondary Social Studies Curricula in Georgia: A Preliminary Assessment." (with Michelle Reidel) for submission to Theory and Research in Social Education, October 2007.

"Securing the Border from Atlanta, GA: Scale, Race, and the Politics of Immigration." for submission to ACME, January 2008.