Dr. Brenda Boonabaana

Biography

Brenda Boonabaana is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on sustainable tourism development, with a strong emphasis on feminist theory, gender-responsive research methods, and participatory qualitative methodologies. She has developed expertise in various areas including women's empowerment, agriculture, climate adaptation resilience, and urban development transformations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Boonabaana holds a PhD in Tourism specializing in Sustainable Tourism and Gender from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Her doctoral research investigated women's participation in community-based tourism initiatives at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, which is renowned for its gorilla tourism. She has been actively involved in training and mentoring gender-responsive researchers through the GREAT programme, which aims to build gender capacity among interdisciplinary agricultural research teams in sub-Saharan Africa. Brenda has provided technical expertise to organizations and UN agencies including UNWTO and UNDP and is an alumnus of the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Programme at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to her academic endeavors, Brenda is a member of various professional organizations including the American Association of Geographers and the International Association for Feminist Economics.

Research Interests

Courses