Eric Thomas

• Political Ecology
• Resource Frontiers
• Aquaculture
• Fisheries
• Coastal Development

Since 2015, I have conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the coast of Chilean Patagonia, where a series of harmful algal blooms have resulted in the closure of fisheries and mass mortality events at local salmon farms.  In the wake of these disasters, my work examines the relationship between industrial aquaculture and artisanal fishing in remote coastal communities as well as the long-term sustainability of these sectors of the coastal economy.  This research is the basis of my current book project, Sustaining Green Capitalism: Distribution, Development, and Democracy in Chilean Patagonia.

I am also developing a project examining local perceptions of aquaculture operations in New England as well as the sector’s political, economic, and social impacts. My research methods include participant observation, career histories, participatory mapping, surveys, and semi-structured interviews.

• NRC/ENVIRSCI 554: Sustainable Food Systems
• NRC/ENVIRSCI 494JI: Social Movements and Environmental Justice
• GEOGRAPH 420: Political Ecology
• GEOGRAPH 102: Diversity, Globalization, and Sustainability

Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2020

MA. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2016

BA. Hamilton College, 2009

In Progress:

Thomas, E. H. (2026) Sustaining Green Capitalism: Distribution, Development, and Democracy in Chilean Patagonia. (book manuscript)

Thomas, E. H. (2025) Quotas, Catch Shares, and Fisheries Transformation in Latin America. Marine Policy. (in preparation)

Published:

Thomas, E. H. (2024) Routine losses, “continuous improvement,” and warming oceans: Managing Risk on Chile’s Aquaculture Frontier. Latin American Perspectives (early online view). https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X241283906 

Thomas, E. H. (2024) Improvising Sustainability: Closed System Fish Farmers in Western Massachusetts. Human Organization. 83(2): 130-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/00187259.2024.2333767

Thomas, E. H. (2024) A Grassroots Organization Stops Exploratory Drilling in Chile. Glacier Hub: Columbia Climate School State of the Planet (blog). https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2024/03/14/a-grassroots-organization-stops-exploratory-drilling-in-chile/

Thomas, E. H. (2023) Fishers who don’t fish: Redistribution and community in times of crisis. American Ethnologist. 50(1):75-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13113

Thomas, E. H. (2022) Coastal Lives: Coastal Lives: Nature, Capital, and the Struggle for Artisanal Fisheries in Peru by Maximilian Viatori and Héctor Bombiella. American Anthropologist. 123(4):437-438. (book review) https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13708

Thomas, E. H. (2022) Democracy and Development in Chilean Patagonia. Anthropology News. August 29. https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/democracy-and-development-in-chilean-patagonia/

Mendoza, M., Greenleaf, M., and Thomas, E. H. (2021) Green Distributive Politics: Legitimizing Green Capitalism and Environmental Protection in Latin America. Geoforum. 126:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.012

Thomas, E. H. (2021) Sanitary Crises and “No Contact” Aquaculture: Chilean Fish Farming During the Pandemic. Culture, Agriculture, Food, and the Environment. 43(1):14-24. http://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12265

Thomas, E. H. (2021) Making Maps on the Coast of Patagonia: Class, Power, and Industrial Expansion. Practicing Anthropology 43(1):30-34. https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.43.1.30

Thomas, E. H. (2018) Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Firewood Trade in Southern Chile. In Chiloé: The Ethnobiology of an Island Culture. A. Daughters and A. Pitchon, eds. New York: Springer.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91983-6_6

Thomas, E. H. (2018) Crisis and catastrophe on Chiloé: Collective memory and the (re)framing of an environmental disaster. Cultural Dynamics. 30(3):199-213. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0921374018795236 

Thomas, E. H. (2017) Territories of Possibility. Cultural Dynamics. 29(4):328-332. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0921374017740457

Thomas, E. H. (2017) Capitalism in the Web of Life by Jason W. Moore. Journal of Political Ecology 24. (book review) https://doi.org/10.2458/v24i1.21075