Nancy Neiman,
Professor of Politics; Interim Chair Fall 2025 and Fall 2026, Department of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Phone: 73549
Pronouns: She/Her
Office: Balch 306
Office Hours: By Appointment
Biography
Nancy Neiman began teaching at Scripps College in 1993. She has been the recipient of numerous Mary Wig Johnson awards in teaching, research, and community service, and has taught a wide range of political economy courses, most recently The Political Economy of Food, The Power Elite, and Infrastructures of Justice. Professor Neiman is the author of States, Banks, and Markets: Mexico’s Path to Financial Liberalization in Comparative Perspective (Westview, 2001), and has published articles on topics such as neoliberalism, dollarization, and financial crises. Her most recent book Markets, Community and Just Infrastructures (Routledge, 2020), analyzes the conditions under which markets result in just outcomes. Through a variety of case studies – labor relations in the U.S. meatpacking industry, the globalization process in Juárez, Mexico, financial reform in Cuba, and an interfaith Ugandan coffee cooperative – this book provides a framework for understanding the conditions under which markets promote just or unjust outcomes (e.g., discrimination, income inequality, and environmental degradation, or racial justice, human rights, and equitable growth). Neiman’s current research focuses on pastoralist nomadic herders in Gujarat India and the global food sovereignty movement. She was a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru award to support her work in India.
Academic History
- Professor of Politics, Scripps College, 2011-present
- Endowed Chair: Mary Wig Johnson Professor of Teaching, 2011-2019
- Associate Professor of Politics, Scripps College, 2001-2010
- Assistant Professor of Politics/IR and Economics, Scripps College, 1993-2000
- Faculty, Scripps College Summer Academy, 2003-2014
- Faculty, Claremont Graduate University, 2002-2023
Academic Focus
Political Economy
Political Economy of Food
Political Economy of Finance
Interests
Tennis, Hot Pilates, Travel, hiking/backpacking, live music
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Political Economy (Poli 130)
- The Power Elite: Surveying the Influence of Business over Public Policy (Poli 122)
- Infrastructures of Justice (Poli 134)
- The Political Economy of Food (Poli 135)
- The Political Economy of Food Inside-Out course at CDCR prison (Poli 135IO)
- Markets and Politics in Latin American (Poli 111)
- Race and American Capitalism (Poli 128)
- Politics Senior Research Seminar (Poli 190)
- Economic Development (Poli 132/Econ 144)
- Principles of Microeconomics (Econ 52)
- Microeconomics for Public Policy (SPE 313)
- Culture, Knowledge and Representation (Core I)
- The Culture of Capitalism: Race, Class, and American Liberalism (Core II)
- We are What We Eat: Political Economy and Culture of Food (Core II)
- Making Sense of Power: Foucault, Gramsci, and Affect Theory (Core II)
- The Culture of Capitalism: Race, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship (Core III)
Books
Food Sovereignty, Indian Pastoralists and our Common Future in progress
Markets, Community, and Just Infrastructures, Routledge Press, 2020.
You can listen to Nancy discuss this book on the New Books Network podcast here: https://newbooksnetwork.com/markets-community-and-just-infrastructures
States, Banks, and Markets: Mexico’s Path to Financial Liberalization in Comparative Perspective, Westview Press, 2001.
Selected Research and Publications
"Pastoralist Migration Challenges and Opportunities in India" in progress
“Plant Justice: A Case Study in Radical Pedagogy and Food Justice in an Alternative Education Setting,” Creative Education, Vol. 10, 2019
“Delicious Peace Coffee: Marketing Community in Uganda,” The Review of Radical Political Economy, 2012
“Petrodollars,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“Financial Liberalization,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“Latin American Debt Crisis,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“The Meanings of Neoliberalism,” in Ravi Roy, Art Denzau, and Thomas Willett eds., Neoliberalism: National and Regional Experiments with Global Ideas, Routledge, 2007
“Plant Justice: A Case Study in Radical Pedagogy and Food Justice in an Alternative Education Setting,” Creative Education, Vol. 10, 2019
“Delicious Peace Coffee: Marketing Community in Uganda,” The Review of Radical Political Economy, 2012
“Petrodollars,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“Financial Liberalization,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“Latin American Debt Crisis,” Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2009
“The Meanings of Neoliberalism,” in Ravi Roy, Art Denzau, and Thomas Willett eds., Neoliberalism: National and Regional Experiments with Global Ideas, Routledge, 2007
Awards and Honors
- 2024 Scripps Research Grant
- 2023 Scripps Faculty Sabbatical Grant
- 2022-24 Fulbright-Nehru Flex Grant for research in Gujarat India
- 2020 Mary Wig Johnson Research Award
- 2016 Crossroads Service Award (honoring 6 years of dedicated service)
- 2014 Claremont Unified School District Valued Community Partner Award
- 2013 Sustainable Claremont Community Partnership Award
- 2012 Halo Foundation Community Volunteer Award
- 2011 Mary Wig Johnson Endowed Teaching Chair
- 2010 Blais Challenge Grant ($25,900 for research and at-risk youth garden project)
- 2010 Claremont Colleges Presidents’ Sustainability Grant
- 2009 Mary Johnson Community Service Award
- 2007 Mary Wig Johnson Teaching Award
- 2006 Mary Wig Johnson Community Service Award
- 2004 Freeman Program in Asian Political Economy Course Development Grant
- 2003 Scripps College Sabbatical Research Grant
- 2003 Freeman Program in Asian Political Economy Research Grant
- 2002 Mary Wig Johnson Community Service Award
- 2002 Awards Convocation Speaker
- 2000 Mary Wig Johnson Research Award
- 1998 Awards Convocation Speaker
- 1998 Mary Wig Johnson Community Service Award
- 1997 Mary Wig Johnson Teaching Award
- 1997 Scripps College Alumnae Leadership Award
- 1996 Scripps College Sabbatical Research Grant
- 1994 U.S Department of Education Course Development/Travel Grant
- 1993 Irvine Foundation Faculty Development Grant
- 1992 Yale University Dissertation Fellowship
- 1990 Yale University Graduate Fellowship
- 1987-9 Ford Foundation Minority Pre-doctoral Fellowship