UWI Crest Campus Image: Mona Curve image for menu aesthetics
 
Academic Staff
Department of Geography & Geology
Search |
Undergraduate Majors | Postgraduate Majors | Courses | Staff | News/Events | Useful Links | About Us | Home
red colored bar
grey colored bar
Prof. David Barker
Head of Department
david.barker@uwimona.edu.jm

Current Research

An underlying general theme of my research over many years has been the role of traditional indigenous knowledge and decision-making among small farmers in Jamaica in relation to sustainable farming systems, agricultural innovations and rural livelihoods. Recent research with former graduate students (Dr Donovan Campbell and Dr Kevon Rhiney) has resulted in the formation of a research group in the Department focusing on the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Jamaica, with particular emphasis on vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability, and crop suitability modeling. Overseas collaborators with this research group include Dr Duncan McGregor (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Douglas Gamble (University of North Carolina, Wilmington). Published work has appeared on the impact of drought, hurricanes and trade liberalization in small farming communities in St Elizabeth, Jamaica. The overall research paradigm is conceptualized through the theme of “double exposure” to environmental change and economic change (global change), with a focus on themes such as vulnerability and adaptation, coping strategies and food security. A longer terms project involves research on yam farming and yam sticks in southern Trelawny, in collaboration with Dr Clinton Beckford (University of Windsor). Other research projects with graduate students include Fair Trade bananas in St. Lucia and rural sustainable livelihoods in St. Kitts and northern St. Vincent.

Selected Publications

Books
  • 1. McGregor, D.F.M., Dodman, D. & D. Barker (2009) Global Change and Caribbean Vulnerability: Environment, Economy and Society at Risk, UWI Press, Kingston, Jamaica, 389p.

    2. Potter, R. B., Barker, D., Conway, D. & T. Klak (2004) Contemporary Caribbean, Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, 497p

    3. Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (Eds) (2003) Resources, Planning and Environmental Management in a Changing Caribbean, UWI Press, 281p.

    4. McGregor, D.F.M., Barker, D. & S. Lloyd Evans (Eds) (1998) Resource Sustainability and Caribbean Development: Geographical Perspectives, UWI Press, 408p.

    5. Barker, D., Newby, C. & M. Morrissey (Eds) (1998) Caribbean Geography: A Reader, Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica, 195p.

    6. Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (Eds) (1995) Environment and Development in the Caribbean: Geographical Perspectives, The Press, UWI, 344p.

    7. Morrissey, M. & D. Barker (1991) A Sense of Place #1: Introducing Caribbean Geography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 122p. Sales of book to September 2003 = 43,211

Chapters in books
  • Miller, L. A. & D. Barker (2007) ‘Land Policy in Jamaica in the decade after Agenda 21', in Besson, J. & J. Momsen (eds) Caribbean Land and Development Revisited , London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp119-132  
  • Barker, D. (2006)‘Field Surveys and Inventories', chapter in Doing Development Research , Vandana Desai & R.B. Potter (eds), SAGE Publications Ltd., London, pp130-143.
  • Barker, D. & C. Beckford (2003) ‘Yam production and the yam stick trade in Jamaica : integrated problems for planning and resource management', in Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (Eds) Resources, Planning and Environmental Management in a Changing Caribbean , UWI Press: Kingston , pp57-74.
Recent Peer-reviewed Publications
  • 1. Beckford, C., Campbell, D. & D. Barker (2011) ‘Sustainable Food Production Systems and Food Security: Economic and Environmental Imperatives in Yam Cultivation in Trelawny, Jamaica’, Sustainability, 3, 541-561, doi:10.3390/su3030541: www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability.

    2. Campbell, D. Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (2010) ‘Dealing with drought: Small farmers and environmental hazards in southern St. Elizabeth, Jamaica’, Applied Geography, 30, pp1-16

    3. Gamble, D.W., Campbell, D., Allen, T.L., Barker, D., Scott Curtis, S., McGregor, D.F.M. & J. Popke (2010) ‘Climate Change, Drought, and Jamaican Agriculture: Local Knowledge and the Climate Record’, Annals, Association of American Geographers, 100(4), pp880-893.

    4. McGregor, D.F.M., Barker, D. & D. Campbell (2009) ‘Environmental Change and Caribbean Food Security: recent hazard impacts and domestic food production in Jamaica’, in McGregor, D.F.M., Dodman, D. & D. Barker (eds) Global Change and Caribbean Vulnerability: Environment, Economy and Society at Risk, UWI Press, Kingston, Jamaica, pp3-21.

    5. Barker, D., Dodman D. & D.F.M. McGregor (2009) ‘Caribbean Vulnerability and Global Change: Contemporary Perspectives’, in McGregor, D.F.M., Dodman, D. & D. Barker (eds) Global Change and Caribbean Vulnerability: Environment, Economy and Society at Risk, UWI Press, Kingston, Jamaica, pp197-217.

    6. Dodman, D., McGregor, D.F.M. & D. Barker (2009) ‘Beyond Caribbean Vulnerability: towards resistance and resilience’, in McGregor, D.F.M., Dodman, D. & D. Barker (eds) Global Change and Caribbean Vulnerability: Environment, Economy and Society at Risk, UWI Press, Kingston, Jamaica, pp365-384.

    7. Barker, D. & C. Beckford (2008 ) ‘Agricultural intensification in Jamaican small-scale farming systems: vulnerability, sustainability and global change’, Caribbean Geography, 15(2), pp160-170.

    8. Beckford, C., Barker, D. & S. Bailey (2007) ‘Adaptation, innovation and domestic food production in Jamaica: Some examples of survival strategies of small-scale farmers’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, vol. 28, pp273–286.

    9. C. Beckford & D. Barker (2007) ‘The role and value of local knowledge in Jamaican agriculture: adaptation and change in small-scale farming’, Geographical Journal, vol. 173(2), pp118-128.

    10. Miller, L. A. & D. Barker (2007) ‘Land Policy in Jamaica in the decade after Agenda 21’, in Besson, J. & J. Momsen (eds) Caribbean Land and Development Revisited, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp119-132

    11. Barker, D. C. Beckford (2006) ‘Plastic yam and plastic yam sticks – perspectives on indigenous technical knowledge among Jamaican farmers’, TESG, vol. 97 no. 5 pp535-546.

    12. Barker, D. (2006) ‘Field Surveys and Inventories’, chapter in Doing Development Research, Vandana Desai & R.B. Potter (eds), SAGE Publications Ltd., London, pp130-143.

    13. Barker, D. & C. Beckford (2003) ‘Yam production and the yam stick trade in Jamaica: integrated problems for planning and resource management’, in Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (Eds) Resources, Planning and Environmental Management in a Changing Caribbean, UWI Press: Kingston, pp57-74.

    14. McGregor, D.F.M. & D. Barker (2003) ‘Environment, resources and development: some reflections on the Caribbean research agenda’, in Barker, D. & D.F.M. McGregor (Eds) Resources, Planning and Environmental Management in a Changing Caribbean, UWI Press: Kingston, pp1-10.

    15. C.L. Beckford & D. Barker (2003) ‘Finding Sustainable ways of staking yams and sourcing yam sticks in Jamaica: an environmental imperative’, Caribbean Geography, vol. 13. No. 2, pp145-155.

    Popular Magazine articles

    1. D. Barker & D. Campbell (2011) ‘Farmers and weather: making sense of climate change’, CaribXplorer, 2(1), pp20-23.

    2. D. Barker (2011) ‘Trinidad, Cuba: a photo tour of the Old Town’, CaribXplorer, 2(1) pp38-42.

    3. Barker, D. (2011) ‘The hazards of dry land farming in St Elizabeth’, CaribXplorer, vol 1(3), pp22-26

    4. Barker, D. (2010) ‘Plastic yam sticks: staking a future in food security’, CaribXplorer, vol 1(2), pp34-36.

    5. Barker, D. (2010) ‘Nyam yam: food for food security’, CaribXplorer, vol 1 (1), pp49-51.

    6. Appropriate Technology (2007) Volume 34 (3) ‘Innovation maintains yam production in Jamaica’ pp63-65 (re-written from published articles with permission, by editor David Dixon)

Courses

  • GEOG1101: Introduction to Human Geography
  • GEOG2102: Geography and Development
  • GEOG3103: Tropical Agricultural Systems and Development
  • GEOG2301: Geographical Thought and Research Methods
  • GEOG3401: Geography Research Project

Graduate Students

Postgraduate Students: Recently completed

1. Ph.D Donovan Campbell – awarded 2011
Domestic food production and hazard vulnerability in Jamaican agriculture: adaptation and change in southern St Elizabeth.
Present post – Lecturer in geography, UWI Mona


2. Ph.D Kevon Rhiney – awarded 2010
‘Globalization, Agriculture and Tourism in Jamaica’, Fieldwork funded through grant from Graduate Studies.
Present post – Lecturer in geography, UWI Mona

Postgraduate students: in progress

1. Ph.D. Chanelle Fingal
Free Trade or Fair Trade: an analysis of the impacts of fair trade on St Lucian bananas

2. Ph.D. Joyelle Clarke
The impact of trade liberalization on land and livelihoods in St Kitts since independence

3. M.Phil. Ayesha Constable
Vulnerability and adaptation of small farmers to global change: Case study of Sherwood Content in Trelawny

4. Ph.D. Rose-Anne Williams
Natural Hazards Management and Rural Livelihoods: An analysis of poverty, vulnerability and adaptation in Northern St Vincent.

5. Ph.D. Carlos Michel The politics of tourism, heritage and development in a World Heritage Site: Local perspectives from the Pitons Management Area, Saint Lucia.

6. Ph.D. Thera Edwards
Plantations, Profits and Protection: An Environmental History of the Blue Mountains, Jamaica, 1800-2009

Editor Caribbean Geography
Caribbean Geography (ISSN 0252 9939) is an international peer reviewed journal published from the Department of Geography & Geology since 1983 which focuses on the Caribbean region. To date, more than 150 articles have been published in the journal. It is presently in transition to an open-access journal http://ojs.mona.uwi.edu/index.php/cg/login. Current and back issues are available on-line and in hard copy.

Editorial Boards

Caribbean Quarterly
CaribXplorer http://caribxplorer.drupalgardens.com
Ideaz

hard copy.

Professional Society Memberships

 

 
 
red colored bar
grey colored bar
Last Updated November 6, 2009
© The University of the West Indies. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | Privacy Statement
Telephone: (876) Fax: (876)
Site best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution or higher.
statistics tracker