Rachel McKane

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology and the Jack Meyerhoff Chair in American Environmental Studies at Brandeis University.

I study the connection between environmental justice and processes of urban change rooted in racial capitalism, city development, and present and historic housing inequality in U.S. cities. My research agenda is driven by a broad set of questions, including: What are the spatial and temporal scales of urban environmental justice struggles? And, importantly, how can these multiscalar analyses guide cities towards centering justice in their sustainability efforts?

My recent project explores the dynamics of two historical racial projects—redlining and interstate highways—and their collective impact on shaping geographies of environmental racism within U.S. cities. This work reveals the intertwined relationship between discriminatory practices in urban planning and the physical landscape, illustrating how the built environment, alongside natural features, were strategically employed and perceived to shape and uphold urban racial inequality.

My other work explores transformative approaches to environmental justice through mutual aid networks and coalition building. This work applies a critical environmental justice lens to climate change adaptation, demonstrating the importance of collective care and mutual aid in the era of climate change.

After obtaining my PhD in Sociology from Vanderbilt University in 2020, I was a postdoctoral research associate in the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) and Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4) at Brown University.

You can find my work in Antipode, Environmental Justice, Environmental Sociology, Mobilization, Environment and Planning A, Environmental Politics, Local Environment, Social Science History, Energy Research and Social Science, and Environmental Research Letters