Salene Schloffel-Armstrong

I am a feminist political geographer, and my work is concerned with collective resources, infrastructure, temporalities and the possibility of envisaging alternative, just futures.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at both Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland) and Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki (Lincoln University). At Waipapa Taumata Rau I am working with Robin Kearns on research around dark sky places, light pollution and potential nocturnal commons. At Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki I am working with a geography / social science team on Bioprotection Futures, as part of Bioprotection Aotearoa.

My PhD thesis investigated the changing form and function of the public library in Aotearoa, as a means to speak more broadly to the way we imagine the futures of our cities, and the ongoing provision of public services. This research explored the library as a 'mundane' site of care and social reproduction in the city that illustrates already partially existing alternatives to our current political and economic system.

I am currently the Secretary of the Australasian Early Career Urban Research Network (AECURN), and the Book Review Editor for the New Zealand Geographer journal. I am also a founding member of the Politics, Economies, and Place Reading Group in the School of Environment at Waipapa Taumata Rau.