Research Interests: History of technology and infrastructure; Latin American studies; postcolonial science studies; postcolonial, critical race, and queer theory; science fictions.

Juanita Becerra is a Ph.D. student in the History of Science, originally from Bucaramanga, Colombia.  They completed their undergraduate degree in Physics and Science, Technology and Society at MIT.  Their research focus is on the history of technology and infrastructure in Latin America.  In particular, they are interested in how ordinary people and non-elite actors, including Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities, campesinos, and construction/maintenance workers have engaged with technology in order to advance their own political, social, and economic goals and needs. 

Juanita is a Doctoral Fellow at the Science, Religion, and Culture Program at the Harvard Divinity School and the coordinator of the Black, Brown and Queer Science Culture and Religion Working Group.

Papers Presented:
"El Tapon del Darien: The Pan American Highway and Ethnoecology." Priors and Priorities: Conceiving Time and Other Bodies Conference (Cambridge, MA, 2018)

"La Panamericana: Contested Modernities in the Americas." 4S Conference 
(Boston, MA, 2017) 

Previous Degrees:

AM, History of Science, Harvard University
BS, Physics and Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology