Lindsay Ofrias is an L4E Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University. Her research is focused on the intersection of public health, environmental justice, and regenerative practice, with a primary focus on the oil frontier of Amazonian Ecuador. Lindsay is driven by her passion for collective change and actively collaborates on projects that amplify underrepresented perspectives in public debates. Currently, she is channeling this passion into a feature-length documentary film production that explores how conspiracy narratives that emerge within civil litigation are redefining what counts as "legitimate" collective action. This exploration encompasses the efforts of politicians, scientists, journalists, and everyday people as they strive to defend their local ecology, health, and civil rights. Simultaneously, Lindsay is engaged in a related book project that delves into how healing is mediated through complex relational ecologies, prompting a reevaluation of what constitutes a health intervention.
Lindsay completed her B.A. at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she discovered the significance of the relationship between law, ecological sustainability, and collective wellbeing. Recognizing the value of people's lived experiences, often dismissed as "anecdotal evidence," she pursued an M.A. in Anthropology at the University of Colorado. This academic path eventually led her to Princeton University, where she conducted her doctoral research. Lindsay's perspective was deeply influenced by a Permaculture/Ecological Design certification course she completed in 2009 at the Center for Bioregional Living in New York. These experiences drew her to the L4E community for the value placed on transdisciplinary and engaged scholarship, enabling us to transform our relationship with Earth amidst climate change, rising toxic exposure-related illnesses, and countless forms of dispossession.
PUBLICATIONS & OTHER WORKS
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2019 Ofrias, L. and G. Roecker. Organized Criminals, Human Rights Defenders, and Oil Companies: Weaponization of the RICO Act across Jurisdictional Borders. Focaal-Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 85: 37-50.
2017 Invisible Harms, Invisible Profits: A Theory of the Incentive to Contaminate. Culture, Theory and Critique 58(4): 435-456.
Book Chapters
2022. S. Sawyer and L. Ofrias. “Oil, Law, Temporality and Indigenous Rights.” In Handbook on Oil and International Relations, edited by Roland Dannreuther and Wojciech Ostrowski. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Dissertation
Healing Justice: Environmental Defenders and a Thriving Amazonia.
Film
RICO (in production)