James J. A. Blair

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Geography and Anthropology, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences

About Me

Dr. James J. A. Blair is Associate Professor in Geography and Anthropology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He also teaches and advises graduate students at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. Blair holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Rooted in cultural and environmental anthropology, as well as human geography, Blair's research employs ethnographic and historical methods to advance the interdisciplinary fields of political ecology, science, technology and society (STS), and settler colonial studies. His work centers on energy, water and environmental justice, especially related to extractive industries, including mining, fossil fuels, dams, logging, and fishing. Specific case studies include: geothermal lithium extraction at the Salton Sea in California; lithium mining, hydroelectric dams, and industrial logging in Chile; as well as offshore oil and commercial fishing in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). Blair’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, Fulbright-IIE, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), 11th Hour Project/The Schmidt Family Foundation, and Hewlett Foundation. In addition to his research, Blair has professional experience in environmental justice policy, as an Equity Technical Advisor for Comite Civico del Valle, an International Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), as well as Land Agency Coordinator for Sierra Club.

For more information visit: www.jamesjablair.com

Publications

Book

2023. Salvaging Empire: Sovereignty, Natural Resources and Environmental Science in the South Atlantic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771545/salvaging-empire/#bookTabs=1

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2023. "From Watershed Moment to Hydrosocial Movement: Patagonia Without Dams and the Free-Flowing Rivers Network in Chile.” Human Organization 82 (3): 288–303 (co-authored with Grant Gutierrez and Ramón Balcázar M.). https://doi.org/10.17730/1938-3525-82.3.288.

2023. “The Alterlives of Green Extractivism: Lithium Mining and Exhausted Ecologies in the Atacama Desert.” International Development Policy 16 (co-authored with Ramón Balcázar M., Javiera Barandiarán and Amanda Maxwell). https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5284

2022. “Tracking Penguins, Sensing Petroleum: ‘Data Gaps’ and the Politics of Marine Ecology in the South Atlantic.” Environment & Planning E: Nature and Space. Vol. 5 (1): 60-80. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619882938

2019. “South Atlantic Universals: Science, Sovereignty and Self-Determination inthe Falkland Islands (Malvinas).” Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society. Vol. 2 (1): 220-236. https://doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2019.1633225

2019. “Splintered Hinterlands: Public Anthropology, Environmental Advocacy and Indigenous Sovereignty.” Journal of Ethnobiology. Vol. 39 (1): 32-49. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-39.1.32

2017. “Settler Indigeneity and the Eradication of the Non-Native: Self-Determination and Biosecurity in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI). Vol. 23 (3): 580-602. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12653

Refereed Reports

2022. “Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America.” Report published by NRDC (R: 21-10-A). April 26 (with Ramón M. Balcázar, Javiera Barandiarán and Amanda Maxwell). https://www.nrdc.org/resources/exhausted-how-we-can-stop-lithium-mining-depleting-water-resources-draining-wetlands-and

Edited Collections

2022. “Negotiating the Crisis: Critical Perspectives on Climate Governance.” Cultural Anthropology: Hot Spots, Fieldsites, June 23 (co-edited with Cynthia Isenhour). https://culanth.org/fieldsights/series/negotiating-the-crisis

Book Chapters

2023. “The ‘Alterlives’ of Green Extractivism: Lithium Mining and Exhausted Ecologies in the Atacama Desert.” In The Afterlives of Extraction: Alternatives and Sustainable Futures, edited by Filipe Calvo, Matthew Archer, and Asanda Benya. Leiden; Boston: Brill Nijhoff (with Ramón M. Balcázar, Javiera Barandiarán, and Amanda Maxwell). https://brill.com/display/title/64309

2022. “Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).” In The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability, edited by Robert Brinkmann. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38948-2_161-1

2022. “Data Gaps: Penguin Science and Petrostate Formation in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).” In The Nature of Data: Infrastructures, Environments, Politics, edited by Jenny Goldstein and Eric Nost, 251-266. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496232786/

2020. “Extractivismo del Litio y el Problema de la Escala: Acción Climática Global y Justicia Ambiental Local.” In Salares Andinos: Ecología de Saberes por la Protección de Nuestros Salares y Humedales, edited by Bárbara Jerez Henríquez, Sergio Uribe Sierra and Ramón Morales Balcázar, 83-95. Santiago: Fundación Tantí. https://cl.boell.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Libro_Salares%20Andinos_version_definitiva_castellano.pdf

2006. “Just Garments, a worker-run factory tries to wring the sweat out of the apparel business.” In Current Economic Issues. 10th edition. Boston: Dollars & Sense. Originally published in Dollars & Sense. September/October 2005: 261 (with Daniel Fireside).

Book Reviews

2015. Reseña bibliográfica Todo lo que necesitás saber sobre Malvinas por Federico Lorenz. Páginas. Vol. 7 (13): 231-235. http://paginas.rosario-conicet.gob.ar/ojs/index.php/RevPaginas

2014. Review Essay “Recent Studies of Oil in Latin America: Conflicted Consultancy, Peaked Patrimony and Neoliberalismo.” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. Vol. 19 (3): 531-537. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12132

2014. Review of Land by Derek Hall. The Journal of Agrarian Change. Vol. 14 (4): 595-598. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12076

2013. Review of The Invention of the Jewish Gaucho: Villa Clara and the Construction of Argentine Identity by Judith Noemí Freidenberg. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. Vol. 18 (3): 539-541. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12053

2013. Review of Flammable Societies: Studies on the Socio-Economics of Oil and Gas edited by John-Andrew McNeish and Owen Logan. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE). Vol. 35 (1): 64-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12007

Public Writing and Advocacy

2023. "The Falklands/Malvinas and Argentina's Thatcherite Turn." North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), December 13. https://nacla.org/argentina-thatcherite-turn-milei-falklands-malvinas

2023. "Avoiding Methodological Nationalism in a Disputed Overseas Territory." University of Exeter: Research and Innovation Blog, July 18. https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/institutes/sci/research/currentprojects/thefutureofglobalbritain/blogs/#tab3

2022. “Plurinational Climate Action: Environmental Governance Beyond Green Extractivism.” Cultural Anthropology: Hot Spots, Fieldsites, June 23 (co-authored with Ramón Balcázar). https://culanth.org/fieldsights/plurinational-climate-action-environmental-governance-beyond-green-extractivism

2022. “Introduction: Negotiating the Crisis: Critical Perspectives on Climate Governance.” Cultural Anthropology: Hot Spots, Fieldsites, June 23 (co-authored with Cynthia Isenhour). https://culanth.org/fieldsights/introduction-negotiating-the-crisis

2022. “Lithium Mining Must Not Dry Up the Atacama Desert.” NRDC Expert Blog. May 12 (with Amanda Maxwell). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amandamaxwell/lithium-mining-must-not-do-more-harm-good

2019. “Water Is a Right: The Parallel COP in Chile.” NRDC Expert Blog. December 23 (with Jessica Carey-Webb). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jessica-carey-webb/water-right-parallel-cop-santiago

2019. “Revisiting Nahuelbuta (1 of 2).” NRDC Expert Blog. August 9. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amanda-maxwell/revisiting-nahuelbuta-1-2

2019. “Revisiting Nahuelbuta (2 of 2).” NRDC Expert Blog. August 9. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amanda-maxwell/revisiting-nahuelbuta-2-2

2018. “International Day of Indigenous Peoples: Free Nahuelbuta.” NRDC Expert Blog. August 9. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/international-day-indigenous-peoples-free-nahuelbuta

2018. “Chile’s River Protector Network Rejects Alto Maipo Complex.” NRDC Expert Blog. July 9 (with Andrea Becerra). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/chiles-river-protector-network-rejects-alto-maipo-complex

2018. “Indigenous Lands in Canada & Colombia on World Heritage List.” NRDC Expert Blog. July 2 (with Jennifer Skene). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/indigenous-lands-canada-colombia-world-heritage-list

2018. “NAFTA to Canada: Face the Facts on Tar Sands Tailings Ponds.” NRDC Expert Blog. May 10. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/nafta-canada-face-facts-tar-sands-tailings-ponds

2018. “Conservation and Community in Laguna San Ignacio.” NRDC Expert Blog. May 3. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/conservation-and-community-laguna-san-ignacio

2018. “World Water Day: Chile’s New Wave of River Protectors.” NRDC Expert Blog. April 6. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/world-water-day-chiles-new-wave-river-protectors

2018. “Chilean Courts Protect Patagonia’s Puelo and Cuervo Rivers.” NRDC Expert Blog. January 9. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/chilean-courts-protect-patagonias-puelo-and-cuervo-rivers

2017. “Tar Sands Tailings Ponds: Out of Canada’s Control.” NRDC Expert Blog. December 21. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/tar-sands-tailings-ponds-out-canadas-control

2017. “Latin America 2017: Top Three Green Trends.” NRDC Expert Blog. December 19 (with Andrés Anchondo). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/james-blair/latin-america-2017-top-three-green-trends

2017. “Protect Chile’s Patagonia with Clean Energy Alternatives to Mega Dams.” ESRI Story Map hosted on NRDC Expert Blog. February 7 (with Amanda Maxwell and Andrea Becerra). https://www.nrdc.org/resources/protect-chiles-patagonia-clean-energy-alternatives-mega-dams

2016. “The Limits of Environmentalism at Earth’s End: Reindeer Eradication and the Heritage of Hunting in the Sub-Antarctic.” Engagement, blog published by the Anthropology and Environment Society. December 20. https://aesengagement.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/the-limits-of-environmentalism-at-earths-end-reindeer-eradication-and-the-heritage-of-hunting-in-the-sub-antarctic/

2016. “Brexit’s South American Ripple Effect.” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). August 4. http://nacla.org/news/2016/08/04/brexit%E2%80%99s-south-american-ripple-effect

2014. “Treasure Islands? Oil and Gas in the Falklands.” The Economist. February 28. http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2014/02/oil-and-gas-falklands

2013. “Self-Determined: Argentina, The Falklands and the UN.” The Economist. August 8. http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/08/argentina-falklands-and-un

2013. “Referendum rewound: The Falkland Islands.” The Economist. June 21. http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/06/falkland-islands

2013. “Loud and clear: The Falklands referendum.” The Economist. Print edition, March 16-22: 40. https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2013/03/16/loud-and-clear

2013. “Sending their message: The Falkland Islands’ referendum.” The Economist. March 11. http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/03/falkland-islands-referendum

James J. A. Blair

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About Me