Research
My research is interdisciplinary in character. With a background in Political Science and Geography, I have a strong interest in both practical and theoretical questions concerning human relationships with the natural environment. Simultaneously, I am equally intrigued by the way that "nature" enters into and conditions the social and political relationships constituting human society.
Current Research Projects
Environment and Citizenship in Latin America. Collaborative book project co-coordinated with Dr. Hannah Wittman of Simon Fraser University.
Research Interests
Political Ecology:
The political cultures of nature and
social subjectivity; the role of citizenship in environmental conflicts
and the politics of sustainability; indigenous peoples, resources, and
post-colonial power relations; urban political ecology; environmental
justice.
Latin American Politics:
Focus on environmental politics, indigenous peoples and the politics of development, particularly with a link to questions of citizenship and the character of democratic participation/debate.
Eco-criticism:
The social and political implications of
nature writing, especially concerning the works of Chilean Nobel
laureates Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral.
Social theory:
Theorizing and investigating the relations of
power (between bodies, things, discourses, and subjectivities) that
condition the parameters of collective being and the possibilities of
political action. I have been particularly influenced by the theoretical contributions of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt.
