Dr. Alejandro García Lozano is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Washington and the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center. They will soon begin an appointment as Assistant Professor of Climate and Environmental Justice in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in New York, NY. Their current work focuses on labor issues in fisheries, particularly small-scale fisheries in Latin America, which given their often informal and dynamic nature challenge traditional understandings of employment and labor rights. Their work seeks to understand the political ecologies of labor in fisheries, or how labor conditions are shaped by ecological, infrastructural, socio-cultural and political-economic factors. Their most recent research has been on the jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) fishery in Peru, which involved a comprehensive assessment across multiple dimensions of decent work. This work highlights how the material specificities of the fishery (e.g., the biology of the squid; diverse techniques and infrastructures), histories of development for economic gain, poor fisheries management, and the social histories of coastal peoples, all influence the current landscape of labor risks, poverty, inequity, and social conflict which is shared by many other fisheries.

More broadly, Alejandro’s interests are in human-environment relations and the politics of natural resource governance. Their research examines how different sets of actors engage in collective action to navigate or shape governance arrangements at multiple scales, and the practices they employ to influence policies and negotiate access to resources.

In 2020, Alejandro earned a Ph.D. in Marine Science and Conservation from Duke University. Their doctoral research focused on the history and politics of fishing cooperatives in Mexico, and the role of regional and national cooperative institutions in the governance of small-scale fisheries. They previously earned a M.S. in Environmental Studies from Florida International University where their research focused on the co-management of small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica. Alejandro is also interested in urban ecologies, human-wildlife coexistence, and the intersections between social justice and environmental movements.

Alejandro’s interests consist of photography, bird watching, moths and butterflies, perfumery and ethnobotany, art and fashion.