Steven Schwartz, assistant professor of anthropology, was recently selected as the recipient of the 2022 Bonnie J. McCay Junior Scholar Award. Schwartz earned this award for his article entitled, “The politics of bachaqueo: Gasoline black markets and indigeneity in Venezuela.”
“It’s deeply rewarding to receive a prize that pays homage to the work of Bonnie McCay, a scholar who contributed so much to the field of environmental anthropology and the study of marine environments. I also feel deeply honored and humbled to be among a group of anthropologists whose work has been so formative for my own scholarship. This prize, which I owe to the generosity of my collaborators and interlocutors back in Venezuela and Colombia, will keep pushing me to think, teach, and write about the relationship between resource extraction and Indigenous populations in Latin America, especially in this moment of climate crisis,” says Schwartz.
While Schwartz wrote the article prior to joining the campus community, it is directly related to his ongoing research and teaching at CC. Schwartz is currently working on his first book, titled “Wind Futures: Indigeneity, Aerial Worlds, and the Making of Renewable Energy in Colombia.” Additionally, Schwartz is starting a new project on wind energy and climate change in eastern Colorado, which he hopes to develop with students and community partners.
“CC is already supporting this work, and I am fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful colleagues and students that push me to think of my research in novel ways,” says Schwarz, who joined CC this past fall.