Maria Luisa Mendonça

Maria Luisa Mendonça is a research scholar at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). She holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of São Paulo (USP). Her research includes history and political economy of agriculture in Brazil and internationally. Her recent book Political Economy of Agribusiness (Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, 2023) demonstrates the central role of food systems in international relations as a result of a dialectical movement of economic crisis and expansion in connection with trade, financial markets, environmental justice, and transnational activism. Her research anticipated a trend in financial capital to “migrate” to farmland markets in the Global South, especially after the crisis in the United States’ real estate market in 2008. She has taught international political economy at University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and at the center for advanced research Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). Mendonça is a co-founder of the World Social Forum and co-director of Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos (Network for Social Justice and Human Rights – www.social.org.br). She is co-editor of the book Human Rights in Brazil, published annually since 2000. Her experience includes documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism, and she has served in expert meetings on the Right to Food at the United Nations.