Dr. Denisse Román-Burgos holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from El Colegio de Michoacán (Mexico). Her work draws from Historical and Political Anthropology, as well as Marxism. Her main areas of research include local politics, factionalism, state formation, ethnicity, and multicultural politics agrarian conflicts, agribusiness. Her approach centers on the cultural dimension of local politics in terms of exchange, reciprocities, conflict, and their relation to wider processes. She is a Newton International Fellow at CISRUL.
Her current research titled “Gray Zones in Agribusiness’ Regulations” aims to shed light on the relationship between agribusiness and criminal violence in Michoacán by focusing on the selective regulation of agribusiness, one of the most prosperous industries in Michoacán and Mexico. The boom of monocrops such as Hass avocados and strawberries has had harmful consequences for labour markets, the environment and security. This research will document how agribusiness is related to the empowerment of armed groups that extort and at times control export-oriented monocrops.