Christopher Murakami, Ph.D.

Photo of Chris Murakami
Assistant Professor, Agroecology
573-825-5830
Eden Hall LDG4

Hometown:  Castro Valley, CA

ACADEMIC AREAS OF INTEREST

Agroecology, Sociocultural learning theories, Identity development, Program evaluation, Arts based research, Post-structural qualitative research, Organizational change, and Political ecology.

PERSONAL AREAS OF INTEREST

Gardening (of course), visiting coffee shops, foraging, and dining at Sichuanese restaurants.

BIOGRAPHY

My research, teaching, and outreach focus on learning through experiences with food and nature. I have experience in early childhood and higher education and continually look for pragmatic ways to engage learners of all ages through garden-based or critical food systems education.

EDUCATION
  • Ph.D., University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), 2015
  • M.Ed., University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), 2011
  • B.S., University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), 2007
CERTIFICATIONS
  • California Teaching Credential: Biological Sciences
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
  • Murakami, C.D., Hawkman, A. M., Kroner, C., & O’Neill, J. (2018). “Follow through”: Poetic representation of action planning for social justice. Art Research International, A Transdisciplinary Journal. 3 (1), 69-89.
  • Murakami, C.D., Su-Russell, C. & Manfra, L. (2018). Analyzing teacher narratives in early childhood garden-based education. The Journal of Environmental Education
  • Murakami, C.D., & Siegel, M.A. (2017) Becoming Bermuda grass: a rhizomatic analysis of equitable science classroom assessments. Cultural Studies of Science Education. DOI: 10.1007/s11422-016-9803-z
  • Murakami, C.D., Hendrickson, M.A., & Siegel, M.A. (2016). Sociocultural tensions and wicked problems in sustainable agriculture education. Journal of Agriculture and Human Values. DOI 10.1007/s10460-016-9752-x
  • Murakami, C.D. (2016). Developing a learning garden on a mid-western land grant university. In: J. Sumner (Ed.), Learning, Food and Sustainability: Sites for Resistance and Change, Palgrave/MacMillan, London, UK.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
  • Lehrer, N. & Murakami, C.D. (2018). Learning-by-doing: Experiential learning and food studies. the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society / Association for the Study of Food and Society 2018 Annual Meeting
  • Sunday, R. & Murakami, C.D. (2018) Agroecology and Community Collaboration: an example of teaching soil health and urban agriculture through authentic decision making cases. Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society / Association for the Study of Food and Society 2018 Annual Meeting
  • Gable, S. & Murakami, C.D. (2016, November). Young scientists in the garden: integrating scientific inquiry into garden-based learning. Presentation at the 2016 Annual Conference for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Los Angeles, CA.
  • Murakami, C.D. & Gillich, H. (2016, April). Learning to become “good food” educators: Philosophies and program features of the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. Symposium and paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching. Baltimore, MD.