Dr. Marcos Mendoza is an Anthropology Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. He is the Associate Chair in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and is also the Co-Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies interdisciplinary minor.
Research Interests
Dr. Mendoza's research interests include: 1) environmentalism, capitalist development, resource politics, and risk society; 2) organized crime, insecurity and violence, law, and sociopolitical mobilization; 3) political theory, republicanism, empire, and revolution; 4) aesthetics, the body, tourism, and extreme sports.
Dr. Mendoza has ongoing projects in Mexico and Argentina. His current book project is entitled Guardian Protectors: On Popular Mobilization and Public Insecurity in Mexico. It examines how sociopolitical movements have formed to contest widespread public insecurity deriving from organized crime, state complicity, the war on drugs, and irregular violence. Focusing ethnographically on rural communities from Michoacán state, the book shows how these sociopolitical movements are expressions of constituent power in action. Drawing upon idioms of self-defense, justice, liberation, and peace, these popular mobilizations speak to major challenges confronting contemporary republics in the twenty-first century. Guardian Protectors contributes to debates in political and legal anthropology, sociolegal studies, and political theory.
He also conducts research focused on the green economy and resource politics in Patagonia as well as mountain-glacial sociality in the Andes. Previous research has attended to the productive intersection of conservation, ecotourism, landscape aesthetics, and sustainable development in relation to national politics in Argentina. Ongoing research explores histories of capitalist territorialization, rewilding initiatives, the legal politics of protected areas, and mountaineering culture in Patagonia.
Student Projects
Dr. Mendoza has advised many thesis projects on topics relating to globalization, environmentalism, migration, social movements, ecotourism, water conflicts, multiculturalism, ethnic politics, urban planning, neoliberalism, authoritarianism, insurgency, organized crime, and legal system reform. He is currently accepting M.A. and B.A. students for the upcoming academic year.
Biography
Dr. Marcos Mendoza is a sociocultural anthropologist and political ecologist by training. He completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 2013. At the University of Mississippi, he is a core faculty member in Anthropology, Environmental Studies minor, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies minor, as well as working closely with the International Studies program and the Honors College.
Marcos Mendoza. 2023. “Territorializing Capital: Moreno’s Gift and the Political Economy of Nature in Argentine Patagonia.” In Tourism and Conservation-Based Development in the Periphery: Lessons from Patagonia for a Rapidly Changing World, edited by Trace Gale-Detrich, Andrea Ednie, and Keith Bosak. Springer: Switzerland, Chapter 2 (pp. 29-46).
Marcos Mendoza. 2021. “The Tyranny of Narco-Power: Political Rule and Austere Domination in Michoacán, Mexico.” Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 26 (3-4): 408-426.
Marcos Mendoza, Maron Greenleaf, and Eric H. Thomas. 2021. “Green Distributive Politics: Legitimizing Green Capitalism and Environmental Protection in Latin America.” Geoforum 126: 1-12.
Marcos Mendoza. 2020. “Alpine Masculinity: A Gendered Figuration of Capital in the Patagonian Andes.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 39(2): 208-222.
Marcos Mendoza. 2018. The Patagonian Sublime: The Green Economy and Post-Neoliberal Politics. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Courses Taught
- Anth 101 Introduction to Anthropology
- Anth 210 Cartels, Gangs, and Crime Syndicates
- Anth 303 Cultural Anthropology
- Anth 328 Culture & Society in Latin America
- Anth 360 Political Ecology
- Anth 365 Economic Anthropology
- Anth 403 Empire and Revolution
- Anth 409 Anthropological Theory
- Anth 414 Legal Anthropology
- Anth 417 Environmentalism: Society, Politics, Law
- Anth 606 Graduate Seminar in Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Education
M.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago (2007)
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Chicago (2013)
Recognitions
- Howell Family Outstanding Teacher of the Year, UM College of Liberal Arts, 2023-24
- General Editor , Southern Anthropological Society Proceeding, 2021-
- Summer Research Grant, Um College of Liberal Arts, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019
- Travel Grant, UM Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, 2018