Jéssica Malinalli Coyotecatl Contreras
Jéssica Malinalli is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Her research focuses on infrastructural projects as territorial and social transformations in Mexico and in the United States.
Jéssica pursues this investigation through three venues : 1) Her dissertation research, “Sonora and Morelos Pipelines: underground chokepoints in energy transition in Mexico” engages with Indigenous and peasant struggles in central and northwestern Mexico against transitional energy infrastructure (i.e. natural gas pipelines for electricity); 2) She works with a feminist collective to explore urban cycling infrastructure and the gendered right to the city in Western Mexico; and 3) She studies oil Infrastructure abandonment in Central California through UCSB-community undertakings.
Her research builds on a feminist perspective of social reproduction and anti-extractivism.
She approaches research as a political commitment and with community partnerships.
Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed articles in Ecología Política: Cuadernos de Debate Internacional (ISSN: 1130-6378, ENT Barcelona), and Ciudades (ISSN 0187-8611, BUAP Mexico), as well as online pieces for broader audiences.
Jéssica is a graduate affiliate to the Environmental Justice/Climate Justice Studies Research Hub and also a co-convener of the “Energy Justice in Global Perspective” Research Focus Group at UCSB, with faculty and graduate students. Before coming to UCSB, Jéssica completed a Masters in Social Anthropology in Mexico.