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Christine Folch

Bacca Foundation Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology

Selected Publications


Suspicion, empathy, and the archival imagination

Journal Article HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory · September 1, 2024 This article celebrates Katherine Verdery’s impact on the discipline of cultural anthropology through an exploration of the intersection of suspicion, empathy, and the archival imagination in ethnographic research, drawing on Verdery’s experiences during h ... Full text Cite

Climate change and the hydropower sector: A global review

Journal Article Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change · March 1, 2022 Renewable sources of electricity, such as solar and wind, need to be paired with sources of reliable baseload. Hydropower is a renewable, low-emission source of electricity baseload available throughout much of the world as an alternative to electricity co ... Full text Cite

Ceremony, Medicine, Caffeinated Tea: Unearthing the Forgotten Faces of the North American Stimulant Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria)

Journal Article Comparative Studies in Society and History · April 1, 2021 Yaupon (the unfortunately named Ilex vomitoria) is a holly commonly used as yard décor in the southeast United States, but many North Americans will be surprised to learn that it is the source of a stimulant tea that has been in continuous use for nearly a ... Full text Cite

Hydropolitics The Itaipu Dam, Sovereignty, and the Engineering of Modern South America

Book · September 3, 2019 An in-depth look at the people and institutions connected with the Itaipoe Dam, the world's biggest producer of renewable energy, Hydropolitics is a groundbreaking investigation of the world's largest power plant and the ways energy shapes ... ... Cite

Hydropolitics: The Itaipu Dam, Sovereignty, and the Engineering of Modern South America

Chapter · January 1, 2019 Hydropolitics is a groundbreaking investigation of the world's largest power plant and the ways the energy we use shapes politics and economics. Itaipu Binational Hydroelectric Dam straddles the Paraná River border that divides the two countries that equal ... Cite

The nature of sovereignty in the anthropocene: Hydroelectric lessons of struggle, otherness, and economics from paraguay

Journal Article Current Anthropology · October 1, 2016 Leftist former Bishop Fernando Lugo came to power in Paraguay in 2008 with the pledge to “recover Paraguay’s hydroelectric sovereignty” from Brazil by demanding greater control of the energy and finances of Itaipú Binational Hydroelectric Dam. This article ... Full text Cite

The Cause of All Paraguayans? Defining and Defending Hydroelectric Sovereignty

Journal Article Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology · January 1, 2015 Although Paraguay produces (and exports) more hydroelectric energy per capita than any other country in the region, these resources are situated on the border with Argentina and Brazil, inflecting national energy matters with transnational complexities. Po ... Full text Cite

The Paraguay Reader: History, Culture, Politics

Journal Article Hispanic American Historical Review · May 1, 2014 Full text Cite

Stimulating consumption: Yerba mate myths, markets, and meanings from conquest to present

Journal Article Comparative Studies in Society and History · January 1, 2010 Before Najla passes me the gourd brimming with yerba mate, she makes sure to wipe the end of the metal drinking straw with the fragrant leaves of a local herbfor the flavor and to clean it she explains in her Venezuela-accented Spanish. We sit under the we ... Full text Cite

Fine Dining: Race in Pre-Revolution Cuban Cookbooks

Journal Article Latin American research review · 2008 Cite