Samuel T. Brandt
Biography
Why does knowledge about places matter? Through what activities is that knowledge best acquired, and in what forms is it best disseminated? These fundamentally geographic questions drive how I read, write, teach, serve, and do fieldwork. As a means toward addressing the transcendent matter of geographic literacy, I study the places, broadly defined, where the urban meets the rural, where the domestic meets the foreign, and where wealth meets poverty.
Trained mainly in cultural and historical geography, my work focuses on Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil in the twentieth century. Combining archival research, ethnographic observation, and interviews, my dissertation, More than a Home: Dwelling, Place, and Poverty in Rural Uruguay, examines the origins, evolution, and impact of Uruguay’s Movement for the Eradication of Unhealthy Rural Housing (MEVIR), a policy that has dramatically improved the quality and supply of housing in rural Uruguay since 1967.
My publications have appeared in leading geography journals, such as the Geographical Review, the Journal of Latin American Geography, and the AAG Review of Books. My undergraduate thesis on the planning of ring roads in post-World War II Britain was cited by the BBC. I have received two Fulbright awards to Uruguay and hold a B.A. in Geography with Honors from the University of Chicago.
Education
M.A. Geography, The University of California, Los Angeles, 2019
Thesis: The Makings of Marginality: Land Use Intensification and the Diffusion of Rural Poverty in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Uruguay
A.B. Geographical Studies with Honors, The University of Chicago, 2013
Thesis: Coming Full Circle: The Wolverhampton Ring Road and the Creation, Restriction and Regeneration of a City Centre, 1944-present
Research
Historical-cultural geography, urban geography, geographic literacy, housing, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, travel writing, history of geography, environmental history
Selected Publications
Books:
Uruguay, The Little Country in the Middle: Journeys Between Superlative and Mundane (completed manuscript)
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
“The Brazilian Scene: David Lowenthal, John Dos Passos, and the Importance of ‘Scene’ and Brazil to Geographic Inquiry”. Geographical Review. v. 113 n. 2 (February 2023), 171-190.
2nd Prize, 2022 Andrew Hill Clark Award, AAG Historical Geography Specialty Group
“The ‘Pastoral City-State’: A Metaphor for the Geography of Uruguay”. Journal of Latin American Geography. v. 21 n. 1 (May 2022), 125-159.
1st Prize, 2023 Andrew Hill Clark Award, AAG Historical Geography Specialty Group
Book Reviews and Review Essays:
AAG Review of Books, “Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly” (October 2021)
Historia Ambiental Latinoamericana y Caribeña (HALAC), “Hindrances of the Hinterland: Ranching in Robert Wilcox’s Mato Grosso” (December 2020)
Newspapers, Magazines, and Radio:
El País (Uruguay), “Túnez, un país espejo al otro lado del mundo” (November 2017)
Semanario Búsqueda, “Uruguay Según los Extranjeros” (February 2016)
The Register-Guard, “Pot, gay marriage barely make a stir in Uruguay” (July 2015)
Roads and Kingdoms, “The Raiders of Ruta 7” (July 2015)
Lvblcity, “Malmö: The Many Faces of the European City” (June 2015)
IBWM, “A cast of characters: Why la Celeste stands unique” (February 2015)
WBEZ, “How the Dan Ryan Changed the South Side” (June 2013)
Media Appearances:
Interview with 91.3 FM San Ramón (Uruguay) (April 2022)
El País (Uruguay), “Vino desde EE.UU. y Cerro Chato le hizo conocer otro Uruguay” (March 2019)
BBC, “Are these the worst ring roads in England” (April 2014)
Grants & Awards
Extramural:
2023 European Rural History Organisation Student Conference Grant
2023 AAG Historical Geography Specialty Group Carville Earle Award
2023 American Geographical Society Council Fellowship
2020 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant
2020 Field Study Award, Journal of Latin American Geography
2018 Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
2013-14 Fulbright U.S. Student
2013 NCGE and AAG Award for Excellence of Scholarship in Geography
UCLA:
2023-24 Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA Graduate Division
2023 Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship, UCLA International Institute
2023 Dissertation Research Fellowship, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies
2020 Graduate Research Travel Award, UCLA Latin American Institute
2020 Sandra Mabritto Fellowship, UCLA Geography Department
2019 Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, UCLA Graduate Division
2018-19 Graduate Research Mentorship, UCLA Graduate Division
2018 Travel Grant, UCLA Geography Department
The University of Chicago:
2013 Director’s Grant, Chicago Careers in Public and Social Service
2012 Undergraduate Travel Grant, UChicago Nicholson Center for British Studies
2012 Ann Natunewicz Travel Grant, UChicago Committee on Geographical Studies
Courses & Presentations
Conference Presentations:
European Rural History Organization Conference, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, September 2023
Symposium of the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Environmental History (SOLCHA), Morelia, Mexico, June 2023
American Society for Environmental History (ASEH) Environmental History Week, virtual, April 2023
American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, March 2023
Conference of Latin American Geographers, virtual, January 2023
SOLCHA Symposium, virtual, July 2021
ASEH Environmental History Week, virtual, April 2021
AAG Annual Meeting, virtual, April 2021
Congress of the Latin American Association of Rural Sociology, Montevideo, Uruguay, November 2018
International Congress of History, Regions, and Frontiers, Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, October 2018
International Symposium of Environmental History and Migrations, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, October 2018
SOLCHA Postgraduate School, Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil, October 2017
Invited Talks:
Geography Department, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay, June 2022
UCLA Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, virtual, May 2022
University of Northern Iowa Graduate Colloquium, virtual, April 2022
Presentation to Incoming Fulbright Grantees, Comisión Fulbright Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay, March 2022
Presentation to Incoming Fulbright Grantees, Comisión Fulbright Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay, March 2019
Environmental History Laboratory of the Cerrado, UniEVANGÉLICA, Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil, February 2019
Center for the Study of Rural Argentina, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 2018
Environmental History Laboratory, Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Brazil, October 2018
UCLA Latin American Institute K-12 Workshop, Los Angeles, CA, USA, June 2018
Wolverhampton City Archives, Wolverhampton, UK, February 2014
Birmingham City University School of the Built Environment, Birmingham, UK, February 2014
Workshop Presentations:
Economic and Social History Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay, May 2022
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Latin American Cities Working Group, virtual, May 2020
UCLA Early Modern Working Group, Los Angeles, CA, USA, November 2019
UCLA Latin American Institute Taller Nuestro Norte, Los Angeles, CA, USA, March 2018
UCLA Latin American Institute Center for Southern Cone Studies, Los Angeles, CA, USA, October 2016
University of Manchester Center for Urban Resilience and Energy, Manchester, UK, February 2014
Advisors
PhD Committee:
Stephen A. Bell, Professor of Geography (Committee Chair)
John A. Agnew, Professor of Geography
Adam Moore, Professor of Geography
William R. Summerhill, Professor of History
MA Committee:
Stephen A. Bell, Professor of Geography (Committee Chair)
Judith A. Carney, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Geography
César J. Ayala, Professor of Sociology
