Andrew Flachs

Andrew Flachs received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2016 and joined the Purdue University faculty in 2017.

Specialization

Environmental Anthropology, Political Ecology, Agriculture, Qualitative Methods, Food Studies, Ethnobiology, Alternative Agriculture including Genetically Modified Organisms and Organic agriculture, South Asia, North America, Eastern Europe.

Dr. Andrew Flachs researches food and agriculture systems, exploring genetically modified crops, heirloom seeds, and our own microbiomes.  Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, he graduated from Oberlin College with dual Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees in 2010.  He earned his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in April 2016 and was a 2016-2017 Volkswagen Exchange Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Heidelberg University Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies.  He is currently an associate professor of anthropology at Purdue University.  His work among farmers in North America, the Balkans, and South India investigates ecological knowledge and technological change in agricultural systems spanning Cleveland urban gardens and Indian GM cotton fields.  His research has been supported by public and private institutions including the Department of Education, the National Geographic Society, the American Institute of Indian Studies, and the Social Science Research Council, while his writing on agricultural development has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed publications as well as public venues including Sapiens, Salon, and the National Geographic magazine.  His work has been recognized by eight international awards, including most recently as a finalist for the Society for Economic Anthropology Kate Browne Creativity in Research Award and the International Convention of Asia Scholars’ Book Prize.  

Notable Publications

Flachs, Andrew.  2019. Cultivating Knowledge: Biotechnology, Sustainability, and the Human Cost of Cotton Capitalism in India. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 

Flachs, Andrew. 2026. Feeding the world as if people mattered: How small farms produce value beyond yields. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Hallett, Steven and Andrew Flachs. 2026. Colonialism, capitalism, and food injustice: Tracing our broken food system back to its racist origins. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press.

Flachs, Andrew. 2027. Food, Culture, and Power. New York: Bloomsbury Press.

Flachs, Andrew and Ashley Glenn. 2025. “We are just surviving:” The paradox of robust homegardens in Northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. East European Politics and Societies. 39(4): 1001-1018. https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254251394653.

Flachs, Andrew. 2025. “Ethnobiology and Degrowth.” Journal of Ethnobiology, 45(4): 315-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/02780771251374886

Flachs, Andrew, Glenn Davis Stone, Steven Hallett, and K.R. Kranthi. 2025. “GM Crops and the Jevons Paradox: Induced Innovation, Systemic Effects and Net Pesticide Increases From Pesticide-Decreasing Crops.” Journal of Agrarian Change, 25:e70006. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.70006

Flachs, Andrew, Jose Becerra*, Fionna Fahey*, and Patricia Mathu*. 2025. “Skilling and social reproduction.” Outlook on Agriculture. 54(2):150-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270251326606

Extramural Grant Support

Dr. Flachs' research has been supported by groups including the Volkswagen Foundation, the American Institute for Indian Studies, The Social Science Research Council, the United States Department of Education, and the National Geographic Society.