Jayson Maurice Porter, a PhD candidate in the Department of History, was recently published in the Washington Post’s Made By History section.
Porter’s perspective piece, “The problem of environmental racism in Mexico today is rooted in history,” provides an overview of the modern experience of settler-colonial racism as well as its historic groundings in Mexico. Porter brings much-needed attention to the largely marginalized Afro-Mexicans who have suffered from environmental injustice for centuries, and continue to experience the detrimental ramifications.
“Bringing attention to the history of Afro-Mexicans, especially those who live in the Guerrero region, makes it possible to address legacies of environmental racism — an issue that has implications for all Mexicans.”
Read the whole article here.
Jayson Maurice Porter is studying environmental history in Mexico and the Americas with a focus on agrochemicals, rural food deserts, and Black ecologies. His dissertation is an environmental history of agrochemicals for and made from the cultivation of oilseeds—sesame, cotton, coconuts, opium, and marijuana—which connects accounts of ecological violence, food insecurity, and environmental justice in Guerrero and Sinaloa, 1920-1980. Porter also serves as an Editorial Board member of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), an official contributor for Black Perspectives in 2021, and has written in other media platforms, such as OkayAfrica, Age of Revolutions, Ecos, and Discurso.
Related: The Graduate School spotlight: Jayson Maurice Porter