Faculty news
January 03, 2008Professor’s Book Takes Top Environmental History Honors
Myrna Santiago's The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1938 has received the inaugural Elinor Melville Prize for Latin American Environmental History.Santiago, who has taught in the Saint Mary’s History Department since 1998 and serves as co-director of the Women’s Studies Program, will accept the award on Jan. 4 at the American Historical Association Conference in Washington, D.C.
The product of 12 years of research, The Ecology of Oil examines how large-scale oil extraction changed the face of Mexico’s southeastern Huasteca region in the early 20th century. It pays particular attention to the enduring environmental impact of the devastating 1908 oil spill near Tamiahua Lagoon, which caused a fire that spanned 100 miles and burned for six months.
The Conference on Latin American History grants the Melville Prize to the best Latin American environmental history book in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. Santiago’s book also received the 2007 Bryce Wood Book Award for Latin American History from the Latin American Studies Association in September.
In addition to its emphasis on the petroleum industry’s impact on Mexico’s environment, The Ecology of Oil also discusses the role that unionized oil workers’ strikes played in Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas’ nationalization of the Mexican oil industry in 1938.
