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 transformations, and institutional arrangements unfold unevenly across regions and historical periods, shaping contemporary development trajectories and sustainability outcomes.

Matilda is Principal Investigator of the research project Seeds of Dissent: The Political Economy of Farmers’ Resistance in the Baltic Region. The Cases of Poland and Sweden (2026–2029), funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Grant no. 25‑PR2‑0036). The project analyzes the historical evolution of farmers’ mobilizations in Europe, with particular attention to Sweden, Poland, and EU‑level institutions, and explores how political, economic, and regulatory changes shape contemporary agrarian protest.

Teaching and supervision

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

She is currently teaching the follwoing courses: Economic Explanations to Global inequality (US006G Länk till annan webbplats.); Development Theory (MJ013G, US007G, MJ026G Länk till annan webbplats.); Master's Dissertation in Environmental Science (MJ000A); Qualitative Methods in Environmental Science (MJ028G, MJ019G, MJ024G); Länk till annan webbplats. Applied Development Studies and Qualitative Methods (US006G); Länk till annan webbplats. Food and Environment ( Länk till annan webbplats.MJ009G); Länk till annan webbplats. Examination work for the programmes of Environment and Development & Global Development Studies ( Länk till annan webbplats.1178MJ, 1736ÖV, 1173MJ); Länk till annan webbplats. Population and Environment ( Länk till annan webbplats.MJ013G, US007G, MJ026G Länk till annan webbplats.); Uneven Global Development and Justice (US005G) Länk till annan webbplats.

Matilda 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 2027
• 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 Board Länk till annan webbplats.

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 link Länk till annan webbplats.
• 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 link Länk till annan webbplats.

Recent and forthcoming 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/accepted). "The wide (un)sustainability ranges of agroexporting territories: Insights from Uruguay". Science of the Total Environment
• 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 (2026) "Soy in Africa: A Perpetual Promise since the Late Nineteenth Century" Rural History Yearbook, 22.
• Baraibar Norberg, M., Gelabert, C. & Mejía, E. (2026). “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.