Biography
Amalia Leguizamón is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at Tulane University. Her research examines the political economy of the environment in Latin America. Particularly, Argentina’s swift agrarian transformation based on the early adoption and intensive implementation of genetically modified soybeans. At Tulane, Dr. Leguizamón teaches courses in environmental sociology, the sociology of food and agriculture, and sustainable development in Latin America. Her book, Seeds of Power: Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina (Duke University Press, 2020), won the Book Award from the Global Development Studies Section of the International Studies Association as well as the Outstanding Book Award from the Section on Environmental Sociology of the American Sociological Association. Seeds of Power has been translated into Spanish (UNSAM Edita, 2023), and a Portuguese translation is forthcoming.
Research
With the support of the Rosenthal Blumenfeld Gulf South Food Studies Fellowship, Dr. Leguizamón developed a new course, Sociology of Food and Agriculture (SOCI 6112). This course is cross-listed with Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, and Musical Cultures of the Gulf South. In this course, students learn about food systems in the Gulf South and Latin America from a sociological perspective. Funds also supported student visits to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB). Through these visits and interactions, Leguizamón cemented a relationship with SoFAB that opened an opportunity to develop a partnership between SOFAB and NOCGS, as well as Leguizamón becoming a Board Member of the SoFAB Series on the Culture of Food and Drink published by LSU Press. From the experiences, ideas, and discussions that have emerged while teaching this course, Leguizamón is writing a chapter entitled “The Future of Food and Agriculture” for the edited volume Environmental Sociology Now!, to be published by the University of California Press. She is also developing a research agenda that explores the groundwork for an interdisciplinary research collaboration that comparatively studies the social and ecological impact of industrial agriculture in the Mississippi and Paraná River Deltas in the United States and Argentina, respectively.
