Engaged scholarship requires a wide array of communication strategies to translate research into action. The following projects and interventions deploy multimodal writing and multimedia with a transformative agenda in mind.
Public Writing
Rubio, Juan Manuel. “Unearthing Lead: Community-Based Science against the Environmental Legacy of the Lead Industries.” Spark: Elevating Scholarship on Social Issues (National Center for Institutional Diversity), June 7, 2022. https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/unearthing-lead-community-based-science-against-the-environmental-legacy-of-the-lead-industries-9c23a5f3b184.s
Audio Documentaries
Serialized audio documentaries are powerful storytelling devices. They allow scholars to narrate their research by focusing on characters, conflicts, and changing contexts. They can communicate complex arguments while also providing the depth and affect of direct human testimony. In a world where visual media is dominant and overstimulating, audio can offer immersive experiences where creative narration and academic rigor meet.
In my first audio documentary, I follow a group of researchers and activists as they try to unearth the mystery of soil contamination in Santa Ana. My second audio documentary is in collaboration with other members of the Blue Lab at Princeton University. It is about the impact of emerging lithium mining projects in the U.S. and Latin America.
Story Maps
Smelters in Central Peru
Story Maps are pedagogical tools for illustrating a historical process. In this visual tour around the Yauli and Huarochirí Provinces in Peru, I explore the environmental legacy of the numerous refineries built in the Central Highlands before 1922. It shows where these refineries were located, provides a brief history of their founders, and explains how they used and changed the surrounding environment.
