I am an anthropologist and political ecologist from El Salvador. I earned my PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I currently work as a lecturer
I specialize in urban political ecology and critical development studies, with a focus on global land politics. I am interested in how struggles over the meaning and materiality of land shape different dimensions of human experience, from the satisfaction of basic needs like food, water, and housing to more abstract ideas about property, sovereignty, and self-determination.
My book project, Mountains of Speculation: Land, Elites, and the Politics of Urban Expansion in El Salvador, explores the relationship between global real estate markets and environmental conflict in Nuevo Cuscatlán, El Salvador, a coffee-producing district whose forested lands have been targeted for gentrification. Moving beyond narratives of corruption, the book shows how several decades of market-oriented land and environmental policies reimagined the place as a pool of assets for speculative investment. In doing so, they not only triggered processes of resource grabbing but also laid the groundwork for the rise of authoritarian populism.
My work has been published in academic journals such as Antipode, City & Society, and The Journal of Peasant Studies. I have also written for Central American newspapers like El Faro, Focos and MalaYerba.
CONTACT
Email: jcg2653@live.unc.edu
Photo by Parag Saikia