Joseph Getzoff (He/Him)

Joseph Getzoff is a Part-Time Temporary Lecturer in the Department of Geography at UW, and a cultural geographer whose research explores the intersections of human-environment interactions, comparative settler colonial contexts, and the global histories of development.

Joe received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct field research in Israel (2015-2017) for his doctoral dissertation, which interrogates the economic and environmental projects connected to state-led development in the arid Negev/Naqab desert. His work explores historical and contemporary economic and developmentalist narratives—such as found in the slogans, “make the desert bloom” and the “start-up nation”—that propel not only Israeli claims to land, but Israeli claims to progress and modernity. His work also focuses on how state-led developmental projects present several material and ideological challenges for Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of the Negev/Naqab, who have historical claims to the region. 

Joe is interested in teaching and advising from a broad geographic perspective, focusing especially on uneven development and environmental politics. Before joining UW, Joe was an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the International Studies Program at Boston College (2022-2025), and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University (2020-2022), where he won the 2022 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher of the Year Award.  He has also taught at Worcester State University (2019-2020).  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Geography, Environment and Society in 2020.