Education

MCD Acadia University (Community Development)

B.Sc. London School of Economics and Political Sciences, University of London (Geography & Environment)

Teaching

• Environmental & Sustainability Studies Capstone
• Leadership for Sustainability
• Sustainable Food Systems
• Land-based Learning & Resilience Practices

Scholarly Interests and Expertise

I learn, write, and teach about sustainable food systems, experiential and community-engaged learning, and the inner work and community practice of healing for social and environmental equity and change. I work with children, youth, and adults as part of communities here in Mi’kma’ki and in various parts of India on systems level change for social, environmental, and personal transformation.

Highlights of Scholarly and Community Work

• Co-authored the chapter Entangled Landscapes: Healing as a Path to Sustaining Food Futures in the Routledge International Handbook for Creative Futures by Donnelly, G & Montouri, A. (Ed).
• Speak and facilitate workshops on transformative equity education such as through the Maple League’s Better Together Teaching & Learning Series (2024) and the Association of Atlantic Universities Teaching Showcase (2024)
• Serve as a board member of the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts & Two Planks and A Passion Theatre and member of the Food Learning Collective
• Am a visiting faculty at the Centre for Learning, Bengaluru, India

Did You Know?

I have close to two decades of experience in designing and facilitating experiential, land-based, and community-engaged programs. In 2013, 2016, and 2019, I led field courses bringing Acadia students to Munsiari, India, to learn about community building and ecological conservation work in the Indian Himalaya in partnership with Maati Women’s Collective and Himal Prakriti Nature Trust.

I’m a small-scale organic farmer growing fruit, vegetables, and legumes. I learnt how to farm in the subtropical rainforest in southern India and now grow food on our farm on South Mountain above Sikunme’katik (the Gaspeareau river).  

I was raised in a strong folk dancing culture and continue to dance and lead folk dancing circles here on campus!

Education

PhD (Geography, University of Toronto)

MA (Geography, Syracuse University)

BA (Economics and Urban Studies, University of Pittsburgh)

Teaching & Research Interests

• Class, race, and gender
• Deindustrialization
• Food insecurity
• Research methods
• Science and technology
• Suburbanization
• Urban studies
• War and militarization

Selected Publications

Books

2021    Vitale, P. Nuclear Suburbs: Cold War Technoscience and the Pittsburgh Renaissance (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).

Journal Articles

2017    Vitale, P. “Making science suburban: the suburbanization of industrial research and the invention of ‘research man’,” Environment and Planning A 49: 2813-34.

2016    Vitale, P. “Cradle of the Creative Class: Reinventing the figure of the scientist in Cold-War Pittsburgh,” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 106: 1378-96.

2015    Vitale, P. “Decline is renewal,” Journal of Urban History 41: 34-9.

2015    Vitale, P. “Anti-communism, the growth machine, and the remaking of Cold-War-era Pittsburgh,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 39: 772-87.

2011    Vitale, P. “A Model Suburb for Model Suburbanites: Order, control, and expertise in Thorncrest Village,” Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine 40: 41-55.

2011    Vitale, P. “Wages of War: Manufacturing nationalism during World War II,” Antipode 43: 783-819.

2011    Farish. M., and P. Vitale “Locating the American Military-Industrial Complex: An Introduction,” Antipode 43: 777-82.

2009    Vitale P. “Learning to be Suburban: The production of community in Westwood Hills, Pennsylvania, 1952-1958,” Journal of Historical Geography 35: 743-68.

Book Chapter

2021     Vitale, P. “Properties of science: How industrial research and suburban property relations reshaped each other in Cold-War-era Pittsburgh.” Cold War Cities: Politics, Culture, and Atomic urbanism, 1945-1965, edited by Richard Brook, Martin Dodge, and Jonathan Hogg, 37-54. London: Routledge.

Encyclopedia Entry

2018    Vitale, P., “Service economies and the American postindustrial city, 1950-present.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Oxford University Press.

Other publications

2017    Vitale, P. “The Pittsburgh fairy tale,” Jacobin (June 20). https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/06/pittsburgh-tech-new-economy-manufacturing-inequality

2015    Vitale, P. “The Westinghouse ‘Atom Smasher’ was more about Pittsburgh’s atomic PR,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (February 1). http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2015/02/01/Pittsburgh-s-Westinghouse-atom-smasher-was-more-publicity-stunt-than-nuclear-landmark/stories/201502010057

2013    Vitale, P. “Poverty by Design: Pittsburgh suburbs have long been home to the poor,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (December 8). http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2013/12/08/Poverty-by-design/stories/201312080009

2010    Mazer, K., and P. Vitale “City Under Siege: The University of Toronto Joins the G20 Security Ring,” The Bullet, Socialist Project E-Bulletin (May 28). http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/361.php

2010    Vitale, P. “Why U of T’s decision to close during the G20 is a mistake,” BlogTO (May 26). http://bit.ly/1Os9Xy2