PhD Candidate Jonathan Mulki present at MLA 2026 in Toronto

Jonathan presented on the panel Thinking with Plants and Animals Through Latin American Texts, which served as the formal launch of the book Plants and Animals in Latin American Cultural Production (University of Florida Press), co-edited by Cristina E. Pardo Porto and Oscar A. Pérez. Jonathan's  peer-reviewed chapter focuses on yerba mate and combines an analysis of the contemporary documentary Raídos (2016) with ethnographic fieldwork conducted in yerba mate plantations in the Triple Border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

For Jonathan, the volume represents a key scholarly outcome of his doctoral training at UC Davis, shaped by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the designated emphasis in Environmental Humanities. Although the chapter is single-authored, his work has only been possible through the insights of our department’s faculty, the generous exchanges with  graduate classmates, and the support of our administrative staff. Jonathan would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you.

During the MLA panel, he had the opportunity to discuss his research alongside fellow contributors to the volume, including Vanesa Miseres (University of Notre Dame), Kate Ostrom (University of Michigan), Beatriz Rivera-Barnes (Penn State), and Oscar A. Pérez (Skidmore College). The session generated a rich discussion with audience members and led to ongoing scholarly exchanges. Jonathan is grateful to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for its support in making this participation possible.

You can also find more information about the volume here: https://floridapress.org/9781683405535/plants-and-animals-in-latin-american-cultural-production/