Alex Latta

Much of my past research was focussed in Latin America, especially Chile, but over the past decade I have shifted my work to Canada’s North. I have worked broadly in the field of political ecology, including ecological citizenship, water governance, Indigenous rights, and socio-environmental conflict around megaprojects (especially hydroelectricity and mining).

Through Laurier’s Cold Regions Research Centre, the Institute for Water Science, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs, I am involved in several research projects in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Northern Ontario, with a focus on Indigenous environmental stewardship, climate change, food security, and protected areas.

I am currently Principal Investigator on a research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, focussed on the rising importance of Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship. That work is conducted in partnership with Dehcho First Nations and, in collaboration with Co-PI Miguel Sioui, the Eeyou Istchee Cree Nation (Northern Quebec).

I am not currently accepting any new PhD students. I am willing to supervise master's students in the field of political ecology, especially those interested in environmental justice, Indigenous Peoples, and environmental conservation. Prospective students should be prepared to work with me on my NWT research projects.

Peer Reviewed

• Price, Mindy Jewell, Alex Latta, Andrew Spring, Jennifer Temmer, Carla Johnston, Lloyd Chicot, Jessica Jumbo, and Margaret Leishman (2022). Agroecology in the North: Centering Indigenous food sovereignty and land stewardship in agriculture “frontiers”. Agriculture and Human Values. DOI: 10.1007/s10460-022-10312-7
• Latta, Alex (2019). Derechos Humanos y las Industrias Extractivas ¿Heracles y la Hidra de Lerna? [Human Rights and the Extractive Industries: Heracles and the Hydra of Lerna?]. In José Tole Martinez (ed) Derechos Humanos y la Actividad Empresarial en Colombia: Implicaciones Para el Estado Social de Derecho. Bogotá: Universidad Externado de Colombia.
• Latta, Alex (2018). Indigenous Rights and Multi-level Governance: Learning From the Northwest Territories Water Stewardship Strategy. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 9(2): 1-22. DOI: 10.18584/iipj.2018.9.2.4
• Cid Aguayo, Beatriz and Alex Latta (2015). Agro-ecology and food sovereignty movements in Chile: Sociospatial practices for alternative peasant futures. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 105(2): 397-406. DOI: 10.1080/00045608.2014.985626
• Latta, Alex and Jimena Sasso (2014). Megaproyectos Hídricos y Conflicto Socio-ambiental en Latinoamérica: Perspectivas Teóricas Desde Gramsci y Foucault (Hydraulic Megaprojects and Socio-environmental conflict in Latin America: Theoretical Perspectives from Gramsci and Foucault). Agua y Territorio, 4: 70-83. DOI: 10.17561/at.v1i4.2166
• Latta, Alex and Hannah Wittman (2014). Ecological Citizenship in Latin America. In E. Isin and P. Nyers (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Global Citizenship Studies. London: Routledge, 265-273.
• Botaro, Lorena, Alex Latta, and Marian Sola Álvarez (2014). La politización del agua en los conflictos por la megaminería: Discursos y resistencias en Chile y Argentina (Politicizing water in mining conflicts: Discourses and resistances in Chile and Argentina). European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 97: 97-115. DOI: 10.18352/erlacs.9798
• Latta, A. (2014). Matter, Politics and the Sacred: Insurgent Ecologies of Citizenship. Cultural Geographies, 21(3): 323-341. DOI: 10.1177/1474474013495642
• Latta, Alex and Hannah Wittman (Eds) (2012) Environment and Citizenship in Latin America: Natures, Subjects and Struggles. New York: Berghahn.

Reports to communities, organizations, and governments

• Latta, Alex (2023). The Edéhzhíe Stories Project Final Report. Submitted to Dehcho First Nations.
• Teillet, Matthew, Alex Latta, and Derek Gray (2021). Evaluating the impacts of ferry operations on water quality, sediment loads, and the traditional fishery in the Gwich’in Settlement Area, Northwest Territories. Completed for the Department of Infrastructure, Government of Northwest Territories. 
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Strategy: Sambaa K’e First Nation. Report to SKFN Band Council, Sambaa K’e, NWT.
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Strategy: Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation. Report to KTFN Band Council, Kakisa, NWT.
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Community Strategy Processes: Best-practice learnings from 2018-2019 work with Ka’a’gee Tu and Sambaa K’e First Nations. Fort Simpson, NWT: Dehcho First Nations.
• Latta, Alex and McLeod, Robyn (2017). Dehcho K’éhodi Community Inventory. Fort Simpson, NWT: Dehcho First Nations.