María

Mancilla García

PhD

Researcher

maria.mgarcia@su.se

+46 8-16 4920

@MMancillaGarcia

Profile summary

  • Process-relational perspectives
  • Causality
  • Citizen participation
  • Water Governance
  • Coastal communities
  • Network analysis
  • Forum theatre

Maria Mancilla-García’s research focuses on relationality in social-ecological systems, including network analysis and theoretical work on the concepts of intertwinedness and dynamism

Mancilla-García is currently working on two research projects. One of these projects focuses on analysing and comparing different approaches to causality in sustainability studies and beyond. This collaborative project brings together several research perspectives from sociology, philosophy and ecology and is led by Maja Schlüter. Mancilla-García specifically will work on bringing a process-relational perspective to the analysis of causal relations in social-ecological systems.

The second project, that Mancilla-García is leading, investigates how coastal communities in Kenya and Mozambique deal with interlinked economic political and climate related challenges. This project uses community theatre to explore social-ecological relations and to what extent they enhance or hinder communities’ wellbeing.

Mancilla-García holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Oxford. She also obtained a Master of Research from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France) and, a Bachelor and Master degree from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (Sciences-Po Paris). During her studies in Paris, she also followed philosophy courses at the University of Paris 1, La Sorbonne. She has worked on polycentric water governance arrangements in Latin America (Bolivia, Peru and Brazil) and Africa (Burkina Faso). She first joined the SRC in 2015 with a Marie Curie Post-doctoral scholarship to work with Örjan Bodin on a network analysis of participation dynamics in water basin councils. She then joined the SES-Link group led by Maja Schlüter to work on process and relational perspectives.

In addition to the SRC, Mancilla-García, is also affiliated with the Research Group on Territorial Systems and Structures at the University of Seville (Spain) as an associate researcher.

Publications by Mancilla García, Maria

The Cod and the Cut: Intra-Active Intuitions

Journal / article | 2021

Hertz, T., Mancilla Garcia, M.. 2021. The Cod and the Cut: Intra-Active Intuitions. Frontiers in Sociology. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.724751

Interest in causality is growing in sustainability science and it has been argued that a multiplicity of approaches is needed to account for the complexities of social-ecological dynamics. However, many of these approaches operate within perspectives that establish a separation between what has causal agency and all the rest, which is relegated to the role of background conditions. We argue that the distinction between causal...

Exploring perceptions of stakeholder roles in ecosystem services coproduction

Journal / article | 2021

Jericó-Daminello, C., Schröter, B., Mancilla Garcia, M., Albert, C.. 2021. Exploring perceptions of stakeholder roles in ecosystem services coproduction. Ecosystem Services. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101353

Stakeholder groups engage in ecosystem services coproduction as both coproducers and beneficiaries. Stakeholder group perceptions of their own and each other’s roles in ecosystem services coproduction therefore influence how ecosystem services are provided in a given landscape. However, only a few studies have investigated self-perceived and attributed stakeholder group roles in this context. The aim of this paper is to assess...

An Earth system law perspective on governing social-hydrological systems in the Anthropocene

Journal / article | 2021

Ahlström, H., Hileman, J., Wang-Erlandsson, L., García, M., Moore, M., Jonas, K., Pranindita, A., Kuiper, J., Fetzer, I., Jaramillo, F., Svedin, U.. 2021. An Earth system law perspective on governing social-hydrological systems in the Anthropocene. Earth System Governance. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2021.100120

The global hydrological cycle is characterized by complex interdependencies and self-regulating feedbacks that keep water in an ever-evolving state of flux at local, regional, and global levels. Increasingly, the scale of human impacts in the Anthropocene is altering the dynamics of this cycle, which presents additional challenges for water governance. “Earth system law” provides an important approach for addressing gaps in go...

Towards a Process Epistemology for the Analysis of Social-Ecological System

Journal / article | 2020

Mancilla Garcia, M., Hertz, T. and Schlüter, M., 2020. Towards a Process Epistemology for the Analysis of Social-Ecological System. Environmental Values, 29(2), pp.221-239.

This paper proposes an epistemological approach to analyse social-ecological systems from a process perspective in order to better tackle the co-constitution of the social and the ecological and the dynamism of these systems. It highlights the usefulness of rethinking our conceptual tools taking processes and relations as the main constituents of reality instead of fundamental substances or essences. We introduce the concept o...