Melisa

Melisa Escosteguy is a PhD candidate at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2018, she obtained her Bachelor in Anthropology from the National University of Salta, Argentina. During her anthropology degree she became interested in the study of social ecological conflicts. This led her to get involved in different movements struggling for environmental justice. Back then she also became aware of the importance of scientific research in identifying inequalities and contributing to the construction of more just and sustainable futures. She is currently a scholarship holder at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and is based at the National University of Salta. Her undergraduate experience and her interest in social-environmental conflicts shaped her ongoing research which is connected to energy justice and the political ecology of lithium mining in northern Argentina. She has experience in ethnographic research and conducted extensive fieldwork in affected communities living near lithium extraction sites. Melisa is part of three research projects funded by CONICET, the Swiss Network for International Studies and the University of Toronto. She published 4 articles in peer-review international journals and 6 book chapters. Since 2021 she is a member of the editorial board of Lithium Worlds, a blog that explores the diverse worlds of lithium, worlds that occur in the interconnection between extractivism and consumption, North and South, technology and ecology.