Mauricio Betancourt Publishes Article in the Peer-Reviewed Journal Socius

By Brian Laubscher
November 4, 2024

Mauricio Betancourt, assistant professor of environmental studies at Washington and Lee University, recently authored a peer-reviewed article in the American Sociological Association's open-access journal Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World.

Betancourt's paper, titled "Guano and the Rise of the American Empire," examines the role of ecological imperialism in the economic, political, ecological and military expansion of the United States. He achieves this by studying the guano (bird dung) trade of the mid-1800s involving Peru and its trading partners in continental Europe, Great Britain and the U.S. Guano is a prized fertilizer which allowed these countries, most notably Britain, France and the U.S., to prosper on the world stage.

"Not enough emphasis has been placed on the ecology, specifically guano, as the historical basis of the U.S. overseas expansion," said Betancourt. "The ecology should be at the heart of center-periphery analysis, and that hasn't commonly been the case. This article intends to contribute to addressing this issue."

Betancourt joined the W&L faculty in 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Arts in philosophy of science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico as well as a Master of Arts and Ph.D in sociology from the University of Oregon.

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