THEA N. RIOFRANCOS
Curriculum vitae
Providence College
1 Cunningham Square
Providence, RI 02918
[email protected]
www.theariofrancos.com
646-258-1539
EDUCATION
2008 – 2014
University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. in Political Science
Competency Exams in Political Theory and Comparative Politics (with
distinction)
Dissertation Committee: Tulia Falleti (chair), Robert Vitalis, Anne Norton, Erica
Simmons (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Dissertation: Contesting Extraction: State-making, Democracy, and Large
Scale Mining in Ecuador
Degree Awarded August 5, 2014
2002- 2006
Reed College
B.A. in Political Science
Graduated Phi Beta Kappa
Thesis: The Co-evolution of Neoliberalism and Social Movements in Bolivia
EMPLOYMENT
Current
Providence College
Assistant Professor of Political Science
2014 - 2015
University of Notre Dame
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Kellogg Institute Visiting (Postdoctoral) Fellow
PUBLICATIONS
2015. “Beyond the Petrostate: Ecuador’s Left Dilemma.” Dissent.
(Forthcoming) “Scaling Democracy: Participation and Resource Extraction in Latin America.”
Perspectives on Politics
“Extractivismo Unearthed: A Genealogy of a Radical Discourse” Cultural Studies (Conditionally
accepted)
with Tulia Falleti, “Endogenous Participation: Prior Consultation in Extractive Economies.” World
Politics (Invited for resubmission)
AWARDS AND HONORS
2012 - 2013
Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism
Graduate Fellowship 2012-2013
University of Pennsylvania
2011
Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students
University-wide Award
University of Pennsylvania
2011
Penfield Dissertation Research Fellowship
University of Pennsylvania
2011
Latin American and Latino Studies Dissertation Research Grant
University of Pennsylvania
2012
Rowe Grant Recipient
Awarded for pre-dissertation fieldwork in Quito and Cuenca, Ecuador
University of Pennsylvania
2008 - 2013
Benjamin Franklin Fellowship
University of Pennsylvania
INVITED TALKS
2016
“Scaling Democracy: Participation and Resource Extraction in Latin America.” The
Watson Institute, Brown University, March 14.
CONFERENCES
Papers Presented
2016
“Proleptic Protest: The challenge of resisting a new extractive sector in Ecuador”,
Western Political Science Association San Diego, California, March 26.
2015
“Missing, Misleading, and False: “Information” Discourse and Large Scale Mining in
Ecuador”, International Studies Association Northeast Meeting Providence, Rhode
Island, November 7.
2015
“State-making, Corporate Strategies, and the Politics of Resource Extraction in Postneoliberal Ecuador”, Latin American Studies Association San Juan, Puerto Rico, May
29.
2014
“Extractivism, Post-extractivism, and the Debate Over Large Scale Mining in Ecuador”,
American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 28.
“Extracting Democracy: The Politics of Representation and the Debate over Large Scale
Mining in Ecuador”, American Political Science Association Annual Meeting,
Washington, D.C., August 30.
2013
“(Post)Extractivismo: The Problematic of Continuity and Transition in the Debate Over
Large-Scale Mining” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago,
November 24.
"Contesting Extraction: Constitutional Politics and Visions of Democracy in the Debate
over Mining in Ecuador", American Political Science Association Annual Meeting,
Chicago, August 29.
"The Right to Prior Consultation: Indigenous and Subnational Territorial Conflict in
Bolivia and Ecuador", paper with Tulia Falleti, American Political Science Association
Annual Meeting, Chicago, August 29.
“Stories of Participatory Democracy: The Collective Right to Prior Consultation in
Ecuador and Bolivia”, XI Congreso Nacional de Ciencia Política organized by
la Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político y la Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos,
Paraná, Argentina, July 19.
"The Right to Prior Consultation: Indigenous and Subnational Territorial Conflict in
Bolivia and Ecuador ", paper with Tulia Falleti, Latin American Studies Association
Washington, D.C., May 31.
“The Right to Prior Consultation: Bolivia and Ecuador in Comparative Perspective”,
paper with Tulia Falleti, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting
Chicago, April 13.
2011
“Rethinking the Single Case Study” University of Pennsylvania Political Science
Graduate Workshop, Philadelphia, April 7.
2010
“The Discursive Terrain of Resource Conflict in Ecuador” American Political Science
Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., September 2.
2009
“A Taxonomy of Spectacle: Rousseau’s Critique of the Theater”, Harvard Graduate
Conference in Political Theory - Cambridge, October 31.
Panels, Workshops, and Conferences Organized
2012
“La Extracción de Recursos en Ecuador: Políticas Publicas, Conflictos Sociales y
Derechos Constitucionales”, Associación Latinoamericana de Ciencias Políticas Quito,
June 21.
2012 - 2013
Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism Graduate Workshop Series, co-organizer
2011
University of Pennsylvania Political Science Graduate Workshop, co-organizer
April 2011
Departmental Talks
2012
“Resultados Preliminares de Tesis de Doctorado”, Facultad Latinoamericana de
Ciencias Sociales Sede Ecuador Quito, Ecuador July 18.
TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE
2015-2016
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Courses taught: Latin American Politics; Democratic Theory; Introduction to
Comparative Politics; Model OAS
2013 - 2014
Undergraduate Coordinator
Latin American and Latino Studies Program
University of Pennsylvania
2013
TA Training Program - Trainer
School of Arts and Sciences
University of Pennsylvania
2012
How to Conduct Social Science Research
Workshop for Public Policy Masters Students
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – Sede Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador
2011
Latin American Politics
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Tulia Falleti
2010
The Meaning of Democracy (Political Theory)
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Jeffrey Green
2010
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Julia Lynch
2009
The Meaning of Democracy (Political Theory)
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Jeffrey Green
VISITING APPOINTMENTS
2011 - 2012
Visiting Researcher
Programa de Políticas Públicas
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – Sede Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador
LANGUAGES
Fluent in Spanish
REFERENCES
Tulia Falleti
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
237 Stiteler Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3363
Tel: 215-898-4240
Robert Vitalis
Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
237 Stiteler Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3363
Tel: 215-898-6497
Anne Norton
Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
3440 Market Street Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3363
Tel: 215-898-6324
Erica Simmons
Lyons Family Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
North Hall 222
1050 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608-263-2414
Rogers Smith
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
3440 Market Street Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3363
Tel: 215-898-7662