Ismael Vaccaro

Associate Professor,
McGill University

Anthropology
E-mail: ismael.vaccaro@mcgill.ca
Institution page




Education

2005 Ph.D. in Environmental Anthropology. Department of Anthropology. University of Washington. Spring 2005.
2004 Conservation Biology Policy Graduate Certificate. University of Washington.
2001 M.A. in Environmental Anthropology. Department of Anthropology. University of Washington.
1996 Bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences. School of Political Sciences and Sociology. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
1995 Diplome d’Etudes Approfondies in Social Anthropology and Ethnology. Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
1994 Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. College of Geography and History. Universitat de Barcelona.


Research

  • Environmental anthropology
  • Political ecology
  • Property theory
  • Landscape analysis
  • Political anthropology/development
  • Conservation policies

  • As an environmental anthropologist, my research has focused on understanding the historical formation and contemporary dynamics of social and ecological landscapes with special emphasis on the interactions between public policies and local communities. My current research analyzes land use, conservation policies and the social, economic and environmental sustainability of rural aras. I am in the process of assembling a methodological toolkit that should provide conservation policy designers and managers with vital information for their work. It aims to establish a bridge between ecology and social sciences to improve conservation policy design, local development and social and econological sustainability. I am also analyzing the possible historical connections brought about by the colonial bond between Spain (Natural Park of the High Pyrenees) and Mexico (Chamela Biosphere Reserve in Jalisco). The goal is to provide social data to inform public policies and foster social and ecological sustainability in and around the protected area. I am collaborating as an anthropological advisor on health issues to facilitate medical communication between health care professionals and local residents. I hope to use this expertise in relevant research work in Panama in the near future.

    QCBS students

    Previous students (since 2009)

    Janelle Baker

    Ph.D.
    (Start: 2012, End: 2017)
    Other QCBS (co-)supervisor: Colin H. Scott
    Cree knowledge of wild food contamination in the oil sands region
    Personal page

    Francisco Neira Brito

    Ph.D.
    (Start: 2014, End: 2021)
    Other QCBS (co-)supervisor: Sophie Calmé
    Biodiversity values expressed through socio-ecological interactions between settler and indigenous Shuar communities in the southern Amazon region of Ecuador.
    Personal page

    Ivet Reyes Maturano

    Ph.D.
    Other (co-)supervisor: Andrés Medina-Hernández. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
    (Start: 2009, End: 2015)
    Remittance Cultivated Landscapes: Forest Recovery and Social Transformation in Villa Hidalgo, Yalálag in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico

    Rene Roy

    Ph.D.
    Other (co-)supervisor: thomassin, paul
    (Start: 2010, End: 2018)
    Incorporating economic values for the environment into private and public decision making

    Julie Pelletier

    B.Sc.
    (Start: 2012, End: 2014)
    Facteurs affectant la distance de fuit chez les sciurids



    Publications

    54- Defining socioecological reciprocity: Intentionality, mutualism or collateral effect
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro I ,
    2024 People and Nature (Date Added: 2024-07-20)

    53- The political ecology of skiing in the Catalan Pyrenees: between private initiative and public rescue
    Journal Article
    Betran O , , l Vaccaro I , ,
    2024 PASOS Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural (Date Added: 2024-02-20)

    50- Reimagining modern politics in the European mountains: confronting the traditional commons with the neo-rural conception of the common good
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro I , Beltran O , Del Mármol C ,
    2023 Theory and Society (Date Added: 2023-10-21)

    49- Reimagining modern politics in the European mountains: confronting the traditional commons with the neo-rural conception of the common good
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro I , Beltran O , Del Mármol C ,
    2023 Theory and Society (Date Added: 2023-10-21)

    48- Techno-herds and cyborg-shepherds in the age of spectacularized bucolism: What lies behind the postcard
    Journal Article
    Estrada Bonell F , Vaccaro I ,
    2022 Journal of Rural Studies (Date Added: 2022-08-31)

    46- The Effects of Migration on Peasant Agricultural Systems: Oaxacan Villages, Between Remittances and Market Integration
    Journal Article
    ,
    2021 Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment (Date Added: 2021-07-16)

    45- New extractivism in European rural areas: How twentieth first century mining returned to disturb the rural transition
    Journal Article
    del Mármol C , Vaccaro I ,
    2020 Geoforum (Date Added: 2020-08-17)

    43- What Do We Mean by “the Commons?” An Examination of Conceptual Blurring Over Time
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro I , Beltran O ,
    2019 Human Ecology (Date Added: 2019-07-12)

    42- Socio-economic transitions and everyday life changes in the rural world: Pyrenean households and their contemporary economic history
    Journal Article
    del Mármol C , Celigueta G , Vaccaro I ,
    2018 Journal of Agrarian Change (Date Added: 2018-03-04)

    41- La gestió comunal de boscos i pastures a les muntanyes pirinenques
    Book Chapter
    Beltran, OaIV
    2017 Nous Horitzons (Date Added: 2018-06-26)

    40- The commons in the central pyrenees. Idealizing the past and rethinking the present
    Journal Article
    Beltran O , Vaccaro I ,
    2017 Revista de Antropologia Social (Date Added: 2017-12-07)

    39- Variation in perception of environmental change in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation
    Journal Article
    Ensor J E , Abernethy K E , Hoddy E T , Aswani S , Albert S , Vaccaro I , Benedict J J , Beare D J ,
    2017 Regional Environmental Change (Date Added: 2017-12-07)

    38- Marine resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene
    Journal Article
    ASWANI S , BASURTO X , FERSE S , GLASER M , CAMPBELL L , CINNER J E , DALTON T , JENKINS L D , MILLER M L , POLLNAC R , VACCARO I , CHRISTIE P ,
    2017 Environmental Conservation (Date Added: 2017-11-16)

    37- Microeconomic relationships between and among fishers and traders influence the ability to respond to social-ecological changes in a small-scale fishery
    Journal Article
    Kininmonth S , Crona B , Bodin, , Vaccaro, I, Chapman L J , Chapman, CA
    2017 Ecology and Society (Date Added: 2017-07-19)

    36- Anthropologies of post-industrialism: ethnographies of disconnection
    Book Whole
    Vaccaro, I
    2016 (Date Added: 2017-07-31)

    34- Territorialidades en conflicto en los Pirineos. Entre el pastoreo comunal y la parcelación del Estado
    Book Chapter
    Beltran, OaIV
    2016 Compromisos Etnográficos: Un homenaje a Joan Frigolé (Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    33-Anthropology of disconnection: the political ecology of post-industrialism
    Book Chapter
    Vaccaro, I
    2016 Anthropologies of disconnection: ethnographies of postindustrialism ( Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    32- Wild animals turned into political subjects: public management of wildlife in the Pyrenees
    Journal Article
    Beltran, OaIV
    2015 Revista de @ntropologia da UFSCar (Date Added: 2018-06-26)

    31- The sterilization of eco-criticism: from sustainable development to green capitalism
    Journal Article
    Santamarina, B, Vaccaro, I, and O Beltran,
    2015 nduli: Revista Andaluza de Ciencias Sociales (Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    30- Islands of Governmentality: Rainforest Conservation, Indigenous Rights, and the Territorial Reconfiguration of Guyanese Sovereignty
    Journal Article
    Gregory, G, Vaccaro, I
    2015 Territory, Politics, Governance (Date Added: 2016-06-10)

    29- Can Perceptions of Environmental and Climate Change in Island Communities Assist in Adaptation Planning Locally?
    Journal Article
    Aswani, S, Vaccaro, I, Abernethy, K, Albert, S, de Pablo, JF-L
    2015 Environmental Management (Date Added: 2015-11-11)

    28- Changing Ruralities: Between Abandonment and Redefinition in the Catalan Pyrenees
    Journal Article
    del Mármol, C, Vaccaro, I
    2015 Anthropological Forum (Date Added: 2015-02-26)

    27- The Power of Uncertainty: the Neoliberal Quest for Profit in Spain
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I
    2014 Journal of International and Global Studies (Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    26- La patrimonialización de la naturaleza: génesis, transformaciones y estado actual
    Journal Article
    Santamarina, B
    2014 Arxius de Ciències Socials (Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    25- Patrimoni immaterial en el patrimoni natural: una tornada al misticisme
    Journal Article
    Santamarina, B
    2014 Revista d’Etnografía de Catalunya (Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    24-Negotiating Territoriality: Spatial Dialogues Between State and Tradition
    Book Chapter
    Vaccaro, I
    2014 Negotiating Territoriality: Spatial Dialogues between State and Tradition ( Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    23-La transformación de la naturaleza en patrimonio colectivo
    Book Chapter
    Vaccaro, IaB
    2014 Construyendo el patrimonio cultural y natural.. Parques, museos y patrimonio rural ( Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    22-De la belleza paisajística a la biodiversidad. La patrimonialización de la naturaleza en el Pallars Sobirà, Pirineo catalán
    Book Chapter
    Vaccaro, IaB
    2014 Construyendo el patrimonio cultural y natural. Parques, museos y patrimonio rural ( Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    21-Negotiating territoriality: spatial dialogues between state and tradition
    Book Whole
    Vaccaro, I
    2014 ( Date Added: 2014-08-06)

    19-Political ecology and conservation policies: Some theoretical genealogies
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, O, Paquet, PA
    2013 Journal of Political Ecology ( Date Added: 2014-04-11)

    18- An interdisciplinary method to harmonise ecology, economy and co-management: fisheries exploitation in Lake Nabugabo, Uganda
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Chapman, C, Nyboer, E, Luke, M, Byekwaso, A, Morgan, C, Mbabazi, D, Twinomugisha, D, Chapman, L
    2013 African Journal of Aquatic Science (Date Added: 2013-12-02)

    17-Antropologia de la conservacion: naturaleza, estado, mercado y cultura
    Book Chapter
    Vaccaro, I
    2012 Geopoliticas patrimoniales. De culturas, naturalezas e inmaterialidades. Una Mirada etnografica ( Date Added: 2016-08-15)

    16-Social and ecological history of the Pyrenees : state, market, and landscape
    Book Whole
    Vaccaro, I
    2010 ( Date Added: 2011-07-29)

    15-Conservationist governmental technologies in the Western European mountains: the unfinished transformation of the Pyrenees
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, CO
    2010 Journal of Political Ecology ( Date Added: 2011-07-29)

    14-Environmental social sciences : methods and research design
    Book Whole
    Vaccaro, I, Alden Smith, E, Aswani, S
    2010 ( Date Added: 2011-05-28)

    13- Challenges in building insect ethnobiological classifications in Roviana, Solomon Islands
    Journal Article
    Krause, RJ, Vaccaro, I, Aswani, S
    2010 Journal of Ethnobiology (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    12- The mountainous space as a commodity: The Pyrenees at the age of globalization
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, O
    2009 Revue de Geographie Alpine (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    11- Commons and markets: Opportunities for development of local sustainability
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Zanotti, LC, Sepez, J
    2009 Environmental Politics (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    10- Livestock versus "wild beasts": Contradictions in the natural patrimonialization of the Pyrenees
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, O
    2009 Geographical Review (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    9- The New Pyrenees: Contemporary Conflicts around Patrimony, Resources and Urbanization
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, O
    2008 Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe (Date Added: 2011-07-29)

    7- Social Sciences and landscape analysis: Opportunities for the improvement of conservation policy design
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Norman, K
    2008 Journal of Environmental Management (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    6- Lagoon ecology and social strategies: Habitat diversity and ethnobiology
    Journal Article
    Aswani, S, Vaccaro, I
    2008 Human Ecology (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    5- Cornellà through the looking glass: Stories, knowledge, society, ecology and change
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I
    2008 Journal for Cultural Research (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    3- Consuming space, nature and culture: Patrimonial discussions in the hyper-modern era
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I, Beltran, O
    2007 Tourism Geographies (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    2- Postindustrial valleys: The Pyrenees as a reinvented landscape
    Journal Article
    Vaccaro, I
    2006 Social Anthropology (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    1- Introduction. Postindustrial natures: Hyper-mobility and place-attachments
    Journal Article
    Sivaramakrishnan, K, Vaccaro, I
    2006 Social Anthropology (Date Added: 2011-04-12)

    In the media