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Kenan Distinguished Professor, Professor Emeritus

aescobar@email.unc.edu
Alumni Building 303E
Website
CV

Research Interests

Anthropology of development, modernity, and social movements, political ecology, ontological design, pluriversal and transition studies, Latin American critical thought, cultural studies of science and technology

Research Background

Arturo Escobar was professor of anthropology and political ecology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, until 2018, and is currently adjunct professor with the PhD Program in Design and Creation, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia, and with the PhD Program in Environmental Sciences, Universidad del Valle, Cali. He is an activist-researcher from Cali, Colombia, working on territorial struggles against extractivism, postdevelopmentalist and post-capitalist transitions, and ontological design. Over the past three decades he has worked closely with several Afro-Colombian, environmental and feminist organizations on these issues. His most well-known book is Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (1995, 2nd Ed. 2011). His most recent books are: Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds (2018), and Pluriversal Politics: The Real and the Possible (2020). He is currently working on a book on relationality (Designing Relationally: Making and Restor(y)ing Life) with Michal Osterweil and Kriti Sharma. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April, 2021.

Arturo Escobar fue profesor de antropología y ecología política en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Chapel Hill hasta el 2018, y actualmente está vinculado con los programas de doctorado en Ciencias Ambientales (Universidad del Valle, Cali) y en Diseño y Creación (Universidad de Caldas, Manizales). Es un investigador-activista de Cali, Colombia, interesado en las luchas territoriales contra el extractivismo, las transiciones posdesarrollistas y poscapitalistas y el diseño ontológico. Durante las últimas tres décadas ha colaborado con organizaciones y movimientos sociales afro-colombianos, ambientalistas, y feministas. Su libro más conocido es La invención del desarrollo (1996, 2ª ed. 2012). Sus libros más recientes son Autonomía y diseño: La realización de lo comunal (2016); y Otro posible es posible: Caminando hacia las transiciones desde Abya Yala/Afro/Latino-América (2018). Actualmente está escribiendo un libro sobre la relacionalidad (Diseñando relacionalmente: Haciendo y restaurando la vida) con Michal Osterweil y Kriti Shama. Fue elegido miembro de la Academia Americana de Artes y Ciencias en abril del 2021.

Education

PhD, University of California Berkeley, 1987; MA, Food Science and International Nutrition, Cornell University, 1978; BS, Chemical Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

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