Gabriel Alfonso
Fernandes de Castro
Brazil

Undergraduate student majoring in Ecological Economics at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), which is, as far as we know, the only program of its kind in the whole world. I have an interdisciplinary academic profile and seek to move the debate on interdisciplinarity forward, as I believe it is an inescapable necessity to improve students’ comprehension of contemporary issues. Mainly interested in the fields of political and economic anthropology; ecological economics; political economy; alternative economies; development and post-development theories; decoloniality; agroecology; and education.

I have been a member of VIÉS – Núcleo de Economia Política (a study group on political economy) and I am currently working at PROGEPA – Programa de Pesquisa e Extensão em Economia e Meio Ambiente (a research and extension group on solidarity economy and environment), both at UFC. At the latter, work is being done on the issues of rural settlements and agro industrialization. There I had the opportunity to learn about and discuss gender, social and regional inequalities, agrarian question, agroecology and economic history, often in dialogue with ongoing social movements.

Having lived my whole life in the Brazilian semiarid Northeast, my experience of reality has always included poverty, environmental limitations and problems, inappropriate management of land and territories, aggression towards traditional populations and their livelihoods etc. Those are all issues I am committed to address as an ecological economist!
I firmly believe that living joyfully and loving nature are political acts – and urgent ones! Currently I am thinking and writing about the academic and professional characterization of the ecological economist, therefore I may be able to contribute to that discussion as a Student Board Member of the ISEE.

Affiliation

• UNIVERSITY: Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) // Federal University of Ceará (UFC)
• FACULTY/SCHOOL: Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA) // Agrarian Sciences Center (CCA)
• COURSE (UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR): Ecological Economics (possibly the world’s first and only at the undergraduate level)