Bio
Jessica Carey-Webb’s research specializes in the historical development, environmental representation, and sustainable future of Latin America and the Amazon region. In particular, she focuses on environmental issues and cultural representation of the Brazilian Amazon. Her current book project, Eyes on Amazonia, examines how race and gender inform structures of empire in the Amazon during a period of heightened national and international attention (the first rubber boom) from the late 19th to the early 20th century. The material she considers includes natural histories, travelogues, biography, fiction, photographs, and film. These narratives come from different genres although all aim to define, categorize, represent, or collect Amazonian territories and peoples in some manner. She engages in a transnational analysis of exploration, exploitation, and representation of the Amazon that examines the workings of imperialism and coloniality through the practices of French, North American, British, Colombian, and Brazilian actors. She has published in a variety of policy and literary outlets, as well as presented her work at international conferences. Dr. Carey-Webb holds a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese Cultural Studies from the University of Texas, Austin, as well as a BA in Comparative Literature, Spanish, and Latin American Studies from the University of Michigan. Previously, she was a Mellon/ACLS public fellow for the Natural Resources Defense Council working on advocacy and policy related to environmental issues in Chile, Mexico and the Brazilian Amazon.
