After completing a BA and MA in World History, Dr Gibson received a PhD in Environmental Studies and a Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies from York University in Toronto, Canada. Drawing on an interdisciplinary mix of fields (i.e., human geography, critical development studies, environmental sociology, world history, and Asian studies), his general teaching and research interests focus on the tension-laden character of nature-society relations under capitalism.
Dr Gibson’s research examines the socio-ecological tensions unleashed by South Korea’s “economic miracle.” It traces the origins of South Korea’s contemporary socio-ecological crisis, analysing issues such as environmental degradation, food dependence, and societal discontent as inherent to its unique twentieth-century capitalist revolution (or “development”). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Subsumption as Development: A World-Ecological Critique of the South Korean “Miracle” (Brill 2026), as well as a series of articles on the “capitalist natures” debates within critical human geography, political ecology and beyond.
Research Specialisations
- Nature-society relations under capitalism
- Critical development studies
- Asian studies
