Mauricio Betancourt

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology

Areas of Study

Education

  • PhD, sociology, University of Oregon

  • MA, sociology, University of Oregon

  • MA, philosophy of Science, UNAM

  • Bsc, biology, UNAM

Biography

I am an Environmental Sociologist studying the nature-society relationship, global environmental change, and unequal development. My research and teaching has focused on agriculture and global food systems, humanity’s impact on the environment, and unequal exchange and development. I am also interested in social theory, environmental history, conservation biology, and evolution. I utilize quantitative and historical methods.

  • Sikirica, Amanda, Nicholas G. Theis, and Mauricio Betancourt. 2022. “Conflicting Outcomes of Alternative Energies: Agricultural Methane Emissions and Hydroelectricity, 1975-2015.” Environmental Research: Climate. doi: 10.1088/2752-5295/ac8ca9.

  • Loustaunau, Lola, Betancourt, Mauricio, Clark, Brett, and Foster, John Bellamy. 2021. "Racialized Contract Labor, the Corporeal Rift, and Ecological Imperialism in Peru’s Nineteenth-Century Guano Boom." Journal of Peasant Studies, doi: 10.1080/03066150.2021.1979966.

  • Betancourt, Mauricio. 2020. "The effect of Cuban agroecology in mitigating the metabolic rift: A quantitative approach to Latin American food production." Global Environmental Change, 63, 102075. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102075.

  • González, Cecilia, Alonso, Cristina, Mora, Emilio, Betancourt, Mauricio, Uscanga, Adriana, and Benítez, Mariana. 2017. "Modos de producción agrícola y conservación de la biodiversidad en México." Biodiversitas, 132: 3-6.

  • Environmental Sociology; Political Economy; Ecological Economics
  • Global Environmental Change; Agriculture and Food Systems; Imperialism.
  • Social Theory; Sociology of Science; Environmental History; Evolution.
  • Quantitative and Historical Research Methods.

  • 2021, Wasby-Johnson Dissertation Award. University of Oregon,
    Department of Sociology, April 15.

  • 2021, Research Award for Best Publication. University of Oregon,
    Department of Sociology, April 15.

  • 2020, Best M.A. Paper Award. University of Oregon, Department of Sociology.

Spring 2023

Introduction to Sociology: Understanding Social Behavior and Structural Inequality — SOCI 165
Sociology and the Global South — SOCI 364
Empires and World Inequality — SOCI 464