About

I speak, study, and write about culture + politics. I focus on three main topics: Latin America, water, and the environment. But I also write about cuisine, popular culture, and development.

These days, I’m working on:

• energy infrastructure, renewable energy, and energy integration in South America (hydropower) and especially Paraguay🇵🇾
• yerba mate & its Ilex cousins yaupon and guayusa that produce lovely stimulant beverages across the Americas & in your neighborhood cafe
• how to balance sustainable development + care for the environment in South America.

As a cultural anthropologist, I’m particularly attentive to how energy and environmental impacts disproportionately affect marginalized communities. As a Latina (🇩🇴+🇨🇺) in the academy, I’m interested in theorizing from peripheral and interstitial spaces.

I’m the Bacca Foundation Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology with a secondary appointment at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.

My CV.