EMILY BILLO
Goucher College
1021 Dulaney Valley Road
Baltimore, MD 21204
(410) 337-3068
[email protected]
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Geography, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, December 2012.
Dissertation Title: “Competing sovereignties: Oil extraction, corporate social responsibility, and
indigenous subjectivity in Ecuador.” Advisor: Dr. Tom Perreault.
Master of Regional Planning, Cornell University, August 2006.
Thesis Title: “Identity in social movement formation: Challenging a global oil industry within
three Kichwa communities in Ecuador’s Amazon region.”
B.A., Environmental Studies, (Art History Minor), Middlebury College, February 2000.
POSITIONS HELD
Assistant Professor, Goucher College, Environmental Studies Program, 2013-present.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Bucknell University, Environmental Studies Program, 2012-2013.
Teaching Fellow, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, Fall 2011-Spring 2012.
Instructor, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, Summer 2011.
Visiting Scholar/Professor, Estudios Socio-Ambientales, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias
Sociales (FLACSO), Quito, Ecuador, Fall 2008-Spring 2010.
Teaching Assistant, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, Fall 2006-Spring
2008, Fall 2010-Spring 2011.
COURSES TAUGHT
Intro to Environmental Studies (ENST 100, ES/PSC 140), Bucknell University, Goucher
College. This course examines relationships between environmental and social systems, Fall
2012 and Spring 2013; Fall 2013 and Spring 2014.
Environmental Policy and Politics (ENST 245), Bucknell University. This course examines the
processes and politics that influence adoption of environmental policies in the United States, Fall
2012.
Environmental Justice (ENST 255), Bucknell University. This course examines issues of
environmental quality and social justice, Fall 2012.
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The Politics of Food (ENST 295 01), Bucknell University. This course critically examines the
global agro-food system, Spring 2013.
Energy and Society (renamed Fossil Fuels and Society) (ENST 295 03, ES 215) Bucknell
University, Goucher College. This course concentrates on the role of energy consumption in
shaping specific social and political relationships, Spring 2013, 2014.
Courses Taught as a Graduate Instructor or Teaching Fellow
Global Community (Maxwell 132), Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse University. This
course examines globalization processes that help or hinder formation of global communities,
Fall 2011 and Spring 2012.
America and the Global Environment (Geography 103), University College, Syracuse
University. This course examines relationships between people and their environments, Summer
2011.
Conflictos Socio-Ambientales, Estudios Socio-Ambientales, FLACSO, Quito, Ecuador.
Conducted in Spanish. This graduate level course examines the social aspects of environmental
conflicts in Andean countries, Summer 2009.
Courses Taught as a Teaching Assistant
America and the Global Environment, (Geography 103), Department of Geography, Syracuse
University, Fall 2010 and Spring 2011.
Teaching Associate, Society and the Politics of Nature, (Geography 203), Department of
Geography, Syracuse University. This course examines the social aspects of resource
management and environmental policy, Spring 2008.
Teaching Associate, Human Geographies, (Geography 171), Department of Geography,
Syracuse University. This course examines the relationships between geography and people’s
everyday lives, Fall 2007.
Teaching Assistant, The Natural Environment, (Geography 155), Department of Geography,
Syracuse University. This course examines major systems within the natural environment, Fall
2006 and Spring 2007.
TEACHING INTERESTS
Development and Sustainability
Energy and Society
Environmental Justice
The Politics of Food
Globalization
Political Ecology
Qualitative Research Methods
Resource Extraction in Latin America
Social Movements and Latin America
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PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
Billo, E. and N. Hiemstra, 2013. “Mediating messiness: Expanding ideas of flexibility,
reflexivity and embodiment in fieldwork,” Gender, Place & Culture, 20(3): 313-328.
Book Reviews
2008. Review of M. Peña, ‘Latina Activists Across Borders: Women’s Grassroots Organizing in
Mexico and Texas’ (Durham & London: Duke University Press), Gender, Place &
Culture, 15(6): 647-661.
Manuscripts Submitted
“For institutional ethnography: Geographical moves from cooptation to engagement,” with
Alison Mountz. Revise and resubmit in Progress in Human Geography.
“Expanding the ‘zone of influence’: An institutional ethnography of corporate social
responsibility programs in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” contribution to a special issue:
Geographies of Corporate Practice in Development: Contested Capitalism and Encounters in
Geoforum.
“Situated struggles: Corporate social responsibility, indigenous subjectivity, and oil extraction in
Ecuador,” contribution to a special issue: States of Nature in Journal of Latin America and
Caribbean Anthropology.
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
External Grants
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, “Corporate
social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” $12,000,
2009-2010.
Inter-American Foundation Grassroots Development PhD Fellowship, “Corporate social
responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” $25,000, 20082009.
Internal Grants
Summer Dean’s Research Award, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship,
“Corporate social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador's northern Amazon region,”
$2,800, 2011.
Summer Dean’s Research Award, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship,
“Contradictions and conflict: An institutional analysis of corporate social responsibility,” $3,200,
2010.
Summer Dean’s Research Award, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship,
“Corporate social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,”
$3,200, 2008.
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Roscoe Martin Research Grant, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, “Corporate
social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” $1,100,
2008.
Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA) Summer Research Grant (Tinker
Foundation), Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse University, “The multinational petroleum
industry in Ecuador’s Amazon region: A case for corporate governance?,” $1,377, 2007.
Summer Dean’s Research Award, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, “The
multinational petroleum industry in Ecuador’s Amazon region: A case for corporate
governance?,” $3,000, 2007.
Roscoe Martin Research Grant, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, “The
multinational petroleum industry in Ecuador’s Amazon region: A case for corporate
governance?,” $800, 2007.
Graduate Research Grant, Center for the Environment, Cornell University, “Indigenous
community and environmental protection through transnational advocacy in Ecuador’s central
Amazon region,” $4,000, 2005.
Travel Grant, Mario Einaudi Center, Cornell University, “Indigenous community and
environmental protection through transnational advocacy in Ecuador’s central Amazon region,”
$650, 2005.
Tinker Grant, Latin American Studies Program, Cornell University, “Indigenous community and
environmental protection through transnational advocacy in Ecuador’s central Amazon region,”
$834, 2005.
Funding for Graduate Teaching and Research Assistantships
Graduate Teaching Fellowship and Tuition Scholarship, Maxwell School of Citizenship,
Syracuse University, $17,000, 2011-2012.
Graduate Teaching Assistantship and Tuition Scholarship, Department of Geography, Syracuse
University, $15,500, 2010-2011.
Graduate Teaching Assistantship and Tuition Scholarship, Department of Geography, Syracuse
University, $15,000, 2007-2008.
Graduate Teaching Assistantship and Tuition Scholarship, Department of Geography, Syracuse
University, $15,000, 2006-2007.
Graduate Research Assistantship Stipend, Department of Regional Planning, Cornell University,
$15,000, 2005-2006.
Graduate Research Assistantship Stipend, Department of Regional Planning, Cornell University,
$15,000, 2004-2005.
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INVITED LECTURES
“Expanding the ‘zone of influence’: An institutional ethnography of corporate social
responsibility programs in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” Political Ecology, ES 230,
Environmental Studies, Goucher College, Fall 2013.
“Qualitative Methods,” Research Methods, ENST 302, Environmental Studies, Bucknell
University, Fall 2012, Spring 2013.
“Corporate social responsibility, oil extraction, and Ecuador,” Globalization, IREL 350,
International Relations, Bucknell University, Fall 2012.
“Corporate social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador's northern Amazon region,”
America and the Global Environment, GEO 103, Department of Geography, Syracuse
University, Spring 2011.
“Corporate social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,”
Introduction to Geography course, Community College of Vermont, Spring 2010.
“Corporate social responsibility and oil extraction in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon region,”
Symposium, University of Washington Exploration Seminar, Cusco, Peru, Fall 2009.
“Corporate social responsibility, oil extraction and indigenous peoples in the northern
Ecuadorian Amazon region,” Syracuse University Study Abroad Program, Santiago, Chile,
Spring 2009.
“Social movement formation in the Ecuadorian Amazon region,” Environmental Science course,
Ithaca College, Spring 2006.
PRESENTATIONS
Papers
“Situated struggles: Corporate social responsibility, indigenous subjectivity, and oil extraction in
Ecuador,” Latin American Studies Association Congress, Washington, DC, May 2013.
“Rights, access, and resources: An institutional ethnography of corporate social responsibility
and the oil industry in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,” Association of American
Geographers conference, Los Angeles, CA, April 2013.
“Corporate Social Responsibility and Indigenous Rights in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon
Region,” Latin American Studies Association Congress, San Francisco, CA, May 2012.
“Exploring the everyday through an institutional ethnography of corporate social responsibility,”
Association of American Geographers conference, New York, NY, February 2012.
“The nexus of development and corporate social responsibility: Indigeneity and resource
extraction in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon region,” Rethinking development: Debating new
directions in a time of crises, Conference at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, November 2011.
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“The politics of oil extraction: Corporate social responsibility and indigenous communities in
Ecuador,” Association of American Geographers conference, Seattle, WA, April 2011.
“‘Socially responsible investment’ and the governance of oil extraction in the northern
Ecuadorian Amazon,” Latin American Studies Association Congress, Toronto, Canada, October
2010.
“Contradictions and conflict: An institutional analysis of corporate social responsibility,”
Association of American Geographers conference, Washington, DC, April, 2010.
“Corporate social responsibility and rural development in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region,”
Association of American Geographers conference, Boston, MA, April 2008.
“What does corporate social responsibility really mean? The case of the multinational petroleum
industry in Ecuador's northern Amazon region,” Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers,
Colorado Springs, CO, May 2007.
“Development of the oil industry in Ecuador: How extraction ‘discourses’ contribute to the
industry’s dominance in the Amazon region,” Association of American Geographers conference,
San Francisco, CA, April 2007.
“The multinational petroleum industry in Ecuador’s Amazon region: A case for “corporate
governance?,” Latin American Studies Program, Graduate Student Conference, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY, March 2007.
“Identity in social movement formation: Challenging a global oil industry within three Kichwa
communities in Ecuador’s Amazon region,” Latin American Studies Program, Graduate Student
Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, March 2006.
Discussant
“Contestation over Resource Access, Governance and Territoriality in the Central Andes, ” Paper
session at the Latin American Studies Association Congress, Toronto, Canada, October 2010.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
Sessions Organized at Conferences
Paper session co-organizer, “Resource extractivism in Latin America: development, governance
and resistance,” Latin American Studies Association Congress, San Francisco, CA, May 2012.
Panel session co-organizer, “Lessons from the field: reflections on human geography graduate
research,” Association of American Geographers conference, New York, NY, February 2012.
Paper session co-organizer and chair, “The New Extractivism in Latin America,” Association of
American Geographers conference, Washington, DC, April 2010.
Paper session co-organizer and chair, “Neoliberal Environmental Governance in Latin America,”
Association of American Geographers conference, San Francisco, CA, April 2007.
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Organizations and Activities
Invited Participant, Feminist Geography Workshop, Guelph, Ontario, May 2-4, 2013.
Participant, Bucknell University, Workshop on the Teaching of Writing, Fall 2012.
Participant, Bucknell University, Teaching and Learning Center, New Faculty Pedagogy Series,
2012-2013.
Director, Graduate Student Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers, 2010-2011;
2012-2013.
Graduate Student Representative, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA),
Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship, 2006-2007.
Co-President, International Planning Students Organization, Cornell University, City and
Regional Planning Department, 2005-2006.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG)
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Future Professoriate Program of Syracuse University (FPP), 2006-2008
LANGUAGES
English (Native speaker)
Spanish (Fluent)
ENVIRONMENT RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY, 2002-2004
Air/Energy and Environmental Justice Programs Assistant
• Researched and wrote on various issues of importance to programs and colleagues,
including greenhouse gas emissions trading programs, renewable energy (biomass), and
childhood lead paint poisoning guidelines
• Researched and organized an institutional policy to track, reduce and offset organization
wide greenhouse gas emissions and register emissions with a state greenhouse gas
registry
• Outreach to community groups and preparing and assembling briefs for litigation
purposes
• Organization of, and preparation for program related meetings
• Proofread reports for publication
Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY, 2001-2002
Membership Assistant
• Composed letters and emails in response to member questions, occasionally involving
online research
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Answered phone calls from members, including environmental program related questions
Proofreading membership publications and direct mail letters
Processing membership donations
Dewey Ballantine LLP, Environmental Group, New York, NY, 2000-2001
Paralegal
• Researched high priority legal issues and cases to contribute to briefs and articles drafted
by attorneys
• Wrote background memoranda summarizing current legal and policy issues of interest to
the group
• Attended and summarized meetings in writing on behalf of clients
• Prepared and assembled briefs required to meet deadlines for specific cases
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