Natascha De Vasconcellos Otoya
I joined the Environmental History PhD program in 2017.
My research focuses on the development of the oil industry in Brazil in the first half of the 20th century. I am particularly interested in close-to-the-ground human/nature interactions and how different groups, like politicians, oil field workers and scientists, developed such interactions. My research interests also overlap with the field of history of science. Geology is a central element in the search and exploration of petroleum in Brazil, and this branch of the natural sciences informs my work. Before coming to Georgetown, I completed a Master's degree in Social History at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and earned a B.A. in History at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.