Karen Hudlet Vázquez was a Landhaus Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center as a PhD candidate in human geography at Clark University, US. Her research interests include feminist political ecology, extractives, agribusiness, justice, human rights, and legal geographies. At the Rachel Carson Center, she will be working on her dissertation project, “Contested Underground Water Territories: Law, Knowledges, and Social Movements against Agribusiness in Yucatan, Mexico.” This project attempts to analyze underground water conflicts by understanding the different hydrosocial territories that are being coproduced by space, law, and science in these aquifers. The research centers on the different imaginaries of water crafted by stakeholders—companies, rural communities, scientists, authorities, and lawyers—in relation to justice, development, and risk. Her case study is on agribusiness and meat production.

Previously, Karen worked on environmental justice with different Mexican and international human rights NGOs with a focus on the defense and promotion of economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. Outside the academy, Karen enjoys scuba diving and swimming.