Germán Vergara (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley) specializes in Latin American and environmental history. Working within a global perspective, his research and teaching explore the role of the environment, animals, energy regimes, intellectual traditions, and industrial capitalism in Latin American history.
His book manuscript, Fueling Mexico: Energy, Environment, and the Transition to a Fossil-Fueled Society, 1850-1950, examines how and why modern Mexico transitioned from an agrarian society powered by animal muscle, water, and wood to a fossil-fueled industrial society. Within a century, Mexico went from an energy regime based on dispersed solar energy accumulated in plants and human and animal muscle to one based on the concentrated ancient sunlight trapped in fossil fuels.
His visit is sponsored by the Latin American History Working Group at the Kellogg Institute and the Minor in Sustainability.
This is a work-in-progress workshop, and a pre-circulated paper will be available for attendees. More information will be coming soon.
Originally published at sustainabilitystudies.nd.edu.