Your Research Interests听
My dissertation research investigates the re-configuration of gold mining and the co-production of extractive frontiers in the Choc贸 department in northwestern Colombia. Drawing from marxist, feminist, and anti-racist theories and methodologies, I work to interrogate the operations of racial capitalism on and against body-territories. My work is also rooted in political ecology and examines how processes of dispossession shape and refract environmental justice claims, including claims within the Colombian ethno-territorial rights framework and the Atrato River as a subject with rights. I work in solidarity with Black Communities, Indigenous Peoples, and White-Mestizo peasant-farmers living along the upper Atrato River basin.
Your Current Research听
In 2020-2021, I worked for the Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Co-existence and Non-repetition. As a research analyst, I had the opportunity to interview victims of the armed conflict, local and regional community organizers, genocide survivors, and FARC ex-combatants. The Commission鈥檚 work, a massive collective endeavor aimed to clarify, understand, and heal 60+ years of war and dispossession is now available in Spanish. It holds important implications for scholars interested in the political ecology of war in Colombia. I hope to make much of this work relatable to human geographers鈥� interests in the US through my scholarly work.
I am currently conducting a multi-sited ethnography of alluvial gold exploitation and copper concentrate mining in four municipalities in the Choc贸 province in the northwestern Pacific lowlands in Colombia. I work daily with community members and environmental justice organizers to better understand how armed violence and capitalist forces have reshaped territories and subjectivities toward medium- and large-scale resource extraction.
More Info听
I have an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Latin American studies from Macalester College, in Saint Paul, MN, and a master's degree in Law, with an emphasis in Human Rights and Democratization, from the Externado University of Colombia. In the past, I have worked with NGOs to research the social and environmental impacts of extractive development projects, such as large-scale coal and gold mining. I am also intellectually committed to bringing in feminist and queer theories into discussions about environmental justice. I speak Spanish, English, and Portuguese.
Recent Courses Taught
Spring 2022 GEOG 1962-581: Geographies of Global Change
Summer 2022 GEOG 1972-581: Environment-Society Geography
Fall 2022 GEOG 1962-581: Geographies of Global Change
Fall 2022 GEOG 1962-582: Geographies of Global Change
Honors and Awards
- Right to the Discipline Grant, Antipode Foundation
- AAG Latin American Specialty Group, Best Student Paper 2020
- Field Research Grant, Tinker Foundation 2019
- Colciencias-Fulbright PhD Student Scholarship, Colombian Fulbright Commission 2017-2021
Recent Publications
Melo, Diego. (2023) Shifting Livelihoods: Gold Mining and Subsistence in the Choc贸, Colombia by Daniel Tubb. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 41(2).
Ospina, J.S., Torres, D.C., Melo, D.A., Espinosa, A., Malag贸n, S. (2022) Pac铆fico. Colombia Adentro. Relatos territoriales sobre el conflicto armado. Bogot谩: Comisi贸n para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No Repetici贸n.
Faculty advisor: Joe Bryan
Diego Melo News
