USC.edu
Department of Sociology

Maria Labourt

Ph.D. Student
Maria Labourt
Email labourt@usc.edu

Biography

I have recently advanced to Candidacy and I am fully devoted to my dissertation work about knowledge production around lithium industry in Argentina. For the 23-24 academic year, I am based in Salta (Argentina) to conduct fieldwork and interviews for my investigation. 

For the first years of my Ph.D. program, I have focused on a project that builds on the case of the Los Angeles River and aims to elucidate the ways in which public life and knowledge coalesce in times of ecological crisis.   

Education

  • M.A. University of San Francisco, CA, 2017
  • Other Degree University of San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina + George Washington University, DC, 2011
  • BA University of Buenos Aires, 2008

  • Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments

    • Research Assistant, University of San Francisco – Department of International Studies, 2016-2017
    • Consultant Researcher, Centro de Estudios Metropolitanos, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018-2019
    • Intern, Food First – Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, CA, Fall 2017
    • Intern, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS), Washington DC, Spring 2017
    • Teaching Assistant, University of Buenos Aires – Law Department, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010-2011
    • Teaching Assistant, University of Buenos Aires – Department of Social Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina , 2008-2010
    • Teaching Assistant, University of Buenos Aires – Department of Social Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina , 2008-2010

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    My dissertation research examines knowledge production around the lithium industry in the Argentine Puna from an STS perspective.

    Research Keywords

    Science and technology studies, political sociology, lithium mining, knowledge production, Argentine Puna region, qualitative methods, techno-political devices, ethnography, techno-epistemological practices

    • Harvard Program on Science, Technology and Society – STS Summer School 2022 , 2022-2023
    • USC – Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life – Summer Research Grant, 2020-2021
    • USC – MASTS Media As SocioTechnical Systems – Interdisciplinary research grant “Changing Infrastructures”, 2020-2021
    • PEO International Peace Fellowship , 2019-2020
    • Mercator Foundation Switzerland Scholarship – Geography of Food Summer School “Designing Food Value Chains”, Fall 2018
    • Rue W. Ziegler Fellowship, Fall 2017
    • Fulbright Award, Fulbright Graduate Degree Grants Scholarship – Master’s Scholar, 2016 – 2017
    • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) , 2011