Dr. Stuart McCook

 
Current Research
My current research explores the the environmental history of tropical commodities and the societies that produce them. I am particularly interested in the environmental consequences of the tropical world's incorporation into the global economy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To explore this intersection between economy and environment, I focus on the history of tropical crop epidemics. Since the early nineteenth century, tropical crop epidemics have become frequent, widespread, and devastating. These epidemics were not simply 'natural' events. They were also the accidental result of large-scale transformations in rural environments during this period. Most of my research to date has focused on Latin America. I have done work on the epidemic of sugar cane mosaic disease in Puerto Rico and Cuba. More recently, I have been studying the impact of the witches' broom disease on the cacao plantations of Ecuador and Bahia, Brazil. I am also starting work on a global history of the coffee rust disease and its impacts on rural societies throughout the tropics.

Graduate Supervision

Departmental Website