Matilda Baraibar

Research

Matilda Baraibar Norberg is Associate Professor (docent) of Economic History and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Sciences and Global Development. She also serves as subject coordinator for Environmental Sciences.

Her research adopts a historically informed political economy approach to global development, with a particular focus on agro-food production, trade, and consumption. She examines how agrarian change, technological shifts, and institutional arrangements unfold differently across regions and historical periods.

Teaching and supervision

Matilda has extensive experience teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Economic History, International Relations, Environmental Science, and Global Development. She received Stockholm University’s Pedagogical Award: Teacher of the Year (2021).

She has supervised numerous graduate and postgraduate students on topics ranging from the political economy of land reform in Latin America to the historical roots of climate change denial.

PhD supervision:

• Jasmin Höglund Hellgren (ongoing, KTH; co-supervisor) – defense planned 2026
• Enrique Mejía (PhD Economic History, Stockholm University; main supervisor; defended 2025)
• Jorge Rodriguez Morales (PhD International Relations, Stockholm University; co-supervisor; defended 2023)

Engagement and collaboration

Beyond her academic work, Matilda actively promotes sustainability and resilience through interdisciplinary collaboration. She serves on the Advisory Board of the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies (SARAS). Link to Advisory BoardLänk till annan webbplats. External link.

Selected publications

(See Google Scholar for the full list.)

Monographs

• The Soybean through World History: Lessons for Sustainable Food Systems (Routledge, 2023, Open Access). Main authored by Matilda Baraibar Norberg; co-authored with Lisa Deutsch (Stockholm Resilience Centre). The book traces the evolving role of soy, from its origins as a food crop in ancient China to its current role as a driver of Amazonian deforestation, highlighting long historical cycles, global trade impacts, and socio-ecological consequences. Open Access linkLänk till annan webbplats. External link.
• The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America: Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, 2020). Single-authored monograph analyzing agrarian change and state autonomy in three South American countries, exploring how global market forces interact with historically shaped institutions. Book linkLänk till annan webbplats. External link.

Articles and book chapters

• Milani, T., Bizzozero, F., Mazzeo Beyhaut, N., Baraibar, M., Piñeiro Guerra, J. M., Rodríguez-Tricot, L., Garibaldi, L. A., Jobbágy E. G. (forthcoming). Rethinking sustainability pathways in agroexporting countries.
• Baraibar, M. & Pozo, G. (forthcoming/accepted). “Global Commodity Chains/Global Value Chains.” In Edward Elgar Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, edited by Nana de Graaff & Bastiaan van Apeldoorn.
• Baraibar Norberg, M., Gelabert, C. & Mejía, E. (2025). “Analyzing Socio-Technical Regimes: The Case of HT Soybeans in Argentina and Uruguay.” Rural History Yearbook, 22.
• Clark, L. B., Ares, G., Baraibar Norberg, M., Luistro, A., Miller, M. & Ncwadi, M. (2023). “Global Action to End Hunger.” Performance Research, 28(7), 47–59.
• Baraibar Norberg, M. (2022). “Sojización as a new first movement: A Polanyian analysis of the South American soybean ‘boom.’” In The Age of the Soybean: An Environmental History of the Soyacene during the Great Acceleration, edited by Marcio da Silva, C. & de Majo, C.. Winwick: White Horse Press. www.whpress.co.uk/publications/2022/11/01/age-of-soybean/
• Juri, S., Baraibar, M., Clark, L. B., Cheguhem, M., Jobbagy, E., Marcone, J., Mazzeo, N., Meerhoff, M., Trimble, M., Zurbriggen, C. & Deutsch, L. (2022). “Food systems transformations in South America: Contributions from a transdisciplinary process rooted in Uruguay.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6:887034.
• Alsina, S., Baraibar, M., Bizzozero, F., González, M., Jobbágy, E., Mazzeo, N., Milani, T., Muniz, C., Pérez, D., Sciandro, J., Zurbriggen, C. (2022). Informe de Consultoría: Capacidades y herramientas para la Agroecología en Uruguay. Montevideo: FAO South America.
• Zurbriggen, C., González-Lago, M., Baraibar, M., Baethgen, W., Mazzeo, N., & Sierra, M. (2020). “Experimentation in the Design of Public Policies: The Uruguayan Soils Conservation Plans.” Iberoamericana, 49(1).
• Rocha, J., Baraibar, M., Deutsch, L., de Bremond, A., Oestreicher, J. S., Rositano, F., Gelabert, C. (2019). “Towards understanding the dynamics of land change in Latin America: Potential utility of a resilience approach for building archetypes of land systems change.” Ecology & Society, 23(4).