Clare Beer
Biography
Research interests: geographical political economy, political ecology, capitalist state theory, conservation governance, environmental philanthropy, Latin America
Education
2017 M.A. Geography, UCLA
Thesis: Enclosing ecology? Land conservation and environmental statecraft in Chile
2008 B.A. Latin American Studies, summa cum laude, Marquette University
Research
I am interested in the politics of land-use, especially land-use for conservation, and what these politics suggest about the relationship between nature, capital, and the state. By framing land conservation as a significant site for theorizing 'the state,' my work seeks to articulate the inherent environmentalisms of state power and the complex entanglements of ecology and economy. I am currently working on a project that asks how a large-scale, public-private partnership for biodiversity protection in Chilean Patagonia is articulating with national conversations about nature, the economy, and conservation-as-development.
Grants & Awards
2021 UCLA Department of Geography Barbara Maida Award for Outstanding Female Scholars
2021 AAG Rural Geography Specialty Group Student Paper Award
2021 UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship
2020 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants
2019 UCLA Department of Geography Graduate Student Teaching Award
2019 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award (DDRA) Fellowship
2018 APCG Annual Meeting Travel Grant
2018 UCLA Alumni Association Fellowship
2018 UCLA International Institute Fieldwork Fellowship
2018 AAG Conference of Latin American Geographers Student Field Study Award
2018 Dimensions of Political Ecology (DOPE) Conference Best Graduate Student Paper Award
2017 Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant
2016 APCG President’s Award for Outstanding M.A. Paper
2016 APCG Annual Meeting Travel Grant
2016 UCLA Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Fellowship (with Eric Sheppard)
2015 UCLA Department of Geography Helin Research Travel Grant
2015 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship in Advanced Spanish
Courses & Presentations
‘Bankrolling the Biodiversity Crisis: Philanthro-environmentalism & Not-for-profit Conservation Finance in Chile.’ In Between Democracy and the Market: Conservation Along the Southern Andes. RAI Anthropology and Conservation Conference, Virtual (Oct 2021).
‘Big Philanthropy, Big Conservation, and Resource Spectacle in Chilean Patagonia.’ In Geographies of Environmental Spectacles & Speculation. AAG Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA (Apr 2021).
‘Inventando el Estado Conservacionista: Fronteras de Ecología y Economía en la Patagonia.’ Sesiones de Investigación, Programa de Doctorado en Territorio, Espacio y Sociedad. Universidad de Chile (Aug 2019).
‘More Profitable than Copper?: The New Politics of Conservation in Chile.’ APCG Annual Meeting, Reno, NV (Oct 2018).
‘Metabolism and the State: Toward a Theory of Environmental Statecraft.’ In Geopolitical Ecologies. AAG Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (Apr 2018).
‘Metabolism and the State: Toward a Theory of Environmental Statecraft.’ In Political Ecologies of Subjectivity & Landscape Formation. DOPE Conference, Lexington, KY (Feb 2018).
‘Land-based Biodiversity Conservation as State Theory: Notes from Chile.’ In Interdisciplinary Insights from the Global South. UCLA Political Sociology of the Global South Graduate Student Conference, Los Angeles, CA (May 2017).
‘Land Conservation as Environmental Statecraft: A State-theoretical Approach to Biodiversity Protection in Chile.’ APCG Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (Oct 2016).
‘Selling Conservation: The Eco-economic Logics of Protected Areas in Chile.’ In The Geography of Infrastructure: States, Nature, Capital. AAG Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (Apr 2016).
