Marco Ammatelli
MALAS/MPH
Environmental Governance & Resilience
As a student working across disciplines in Public Health (Community Health) and Latin American Studies (Environmental Governance and Resilience), Marco is focused on the following questions: What is our responsibility to place, to overcoming disconnect to food systems, soil, and water? How can diverse stakeholders support visions of resilience for rural communities and the landscapes they steward? And in what ways can already complex food systems be adapted to maximize economic and ecological circularity on a local and global scale? While traveling in South America with support of the Bonderman Fellowship, he began to understand that social and environmental determinants of health cannot be disentangled from the agricultural landscapes at their center. Working with individuals in small communities across the Andes taught him that place-based knowledge, ecological literacy, and regenerative farming practices are integral to addressing the planetary health conundrums of our shared future, both for humans and non-humans. His motivations within LAS arise from the understanding that hauntings of colonization and imperialism are omnipresent in the coupled human-environment discourse of the Americas. Through his studies, he plans to continue interrogating his position and privilege within this entanglement while simultaneously seeking to align his work with the needs and voices of marginalized populations, whether based in los países andinos or within New Mexico. His philosophy draws from the power of community-based participatory research, co-creation of knowledge, and artmaking as mediums for advancing health equity, environmental justice, and cultivating knowledge democracy. Marco was born in Alamosa, CO and later raised in Salida, CO and Spokane, WA. He holds a BA with College Honors in Painting and Drawing, earned at the University of Washington.
