Research

In Progress (see CV for a whole list of manuscripts in preparation)

The guano diggers: A racialized system of bonded labor

Mauricio Betancourt

Using archival data from Peru and drawing on corporeal rift theory, this piece examines the little-known living conditions of the Chinese guano workers in the Chincha Islands during the mid-1850s. I show how the guano trade created entwined ecological degradation an human exploitation. To be submitted to the American Journal of Sociology.

The ecological bases for economic processes: South American guano formation and commodification

Mauricio Betancourt

This paper analyzes how geophysical and ecological conditions provide the foundation and context for global trade by studying the processes whereby guano is formed off Peru and Northern Chile. To be submitted to Human Ecology.

An Agroecology Project in Zaachila: the synthesis of an experience

Mariana Benítez, Cristina Alonso, Cecilia González, Emilio Mora, Emilio Petrone, Mauricio Betancourt, Adriana Uscanga, Alexandre Beaupré, Benito Vázquez, Tania Lara, Luis Bracamontes, Sergio Hernández, Diego Contreras, Ana Laura Urrutia, and Kyria Valladares.

Using information obtained through semi-structured interviews, in this book chapter we synthesize the experiences of peasants in Zaachila, Oaxaca, regarding their adoption of agroecological techniques and their involvement in a local agroecological project we were part of.

Past

The nature-society relationship under capitalism and socialism

Mauricio Betancourt

This work examines the perspectives and techno-scientific assumptions vis-à-vis- the environment under different socioeconomic systems, by means of applying social theories.

This was my M.A. thesis in Philosophy of Science at UNAM. Read this work here (in Spanish).

The literary, scientific, and sociopolitical origins of environmentalism in the United States and its Development During the Cold War

Mauricio Betancourt

This thesis traces the diverse origins of environmentalism in the United States, paying attention to both its artistic and scientific components, as well as its sociopolitical implications in the twentieth century and the present-day world.

This was my Bachelor’s Honor’s Thesis. You can read it here (in Spanish).