UF Center for Latin American Studies
Days: Fridays
Times: 12:50 - 3:50 pm
Location: Grinter 376
NO PREREQUISITES OR INSTRUCTOR APPROVAL NEEDED FOR REGISTRATION
Course description
Latin American societies and their ecosystems face a complex web of interconnected risks. The region remains the most dangerous for environmental leaders, with increasing conflicts over land, water, and resource extraction. The recent COP16 Conference introduced the concept of “Peace with Nature”, highlighting the multiple crises and socio-environmental conflicts affecting both the region and global ecosystems. To build a more just and sustainable future, it is crucial to explore pathways for social justice and environmental peacebuilding—where diverse knowledge systems and ways of life can coexist and thrive.
This course examines the intersections of knowledge, power, and environmental peacebuilding through the lens of Science and Technology Studies (STS), political ecology and One Health. It critically engages with the production, contestation, and mobilization of knowledge and power in environmental conflicts, addressing how scientific expertise, local knowledge, and institutional policies shape responses to war, resource extraction, and ecological destruction. By analyzing how different actors—scientists, corporations, policymakers, Indigenous communities, and grassroots organizations—construct and contest knowledge about environmental harm, justice, and sustainability, students will develop a sociological understanding of science as a site of power and struggle in environmental peacebuilding.
Drawing on Latin American case studies, students will critically engage with the politics of expertise, environmental justice, and contested scientific production. The course integrates perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS), political ecology, and decolonial approaches to examine how knowledge is mobilized in war-peace transitions, environmental conflicts, and conservation initiatives.
Jairo Baquero-Melo
Assistant Professor, Center for Latin American Studies
392 Grinter Hall
P.O. Box 115530
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
E-mail: jbaqueromelo@ufl.edu
Tel: 352-392-5235
Research Interests
Environmental justice; Political ecology; Critical agrarian studies; Political economy; Intersectionality; Violence; Peacebuilding; Labor studies
Geographic Expertise
Colombia [Pacific, Amazonian, Andean regions]; Darien region
