Agustín Coca Pérez

Agustín Coca Pérez is a Professor and Coordinator of the Social Anthropology Area within the Department of Social Anthropology, Basic Psychology and Public Health at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville. He belongs to the Social Research and Participatory Action Group (GISAP) SEJ-218 and is a founding member of the Environmental Anthropology Network. His academic career spans over two decades at UPO, where he teaches across multiple programs including Environmental Sciences, Social Work, Social Education, Humanities, and Geography and History.

His research interests focus on social and environmental anthropology, particularly examining participatory methodologies in protected natural areas, community tourism (with extensive fieldwork in Ecuador), local knowledge systems, and social movements in Andalusia. His work bridges theoretical anthropology with practical applications for sustainable development and community empowerment.

Coca Pérez's publications reveal a consistent trajectory examining human-environment relationships, with recent work emphasizing networked environmental anthropologies and indigenous knowledge systems. His research demonstrates strong interdisciplinary connections between anthropology, political ecology, and sustainable development studies, with fieldwork conducted across Andalusia, Morocco, Sardinia, Catalonia, and extensively in Ecuador.

• 19th Blas Infante Memorial Research Award

As Principal Investigator of the FEDER project on Andalusian cork oak forests and current member of the European EDGES project (2024-2027) on indigenous knowledges, Coca Pérez maintains active research collaborations across Europe and Latin America. His work with the University of Cuenca in Ecuador has produced significant insights into community tourism models.

His research team within GISAP conducts fieldwork across multiple sites, focusing on the intersection of environmental conservation, local knowledge, and community development. Current projects emphasize entangling indigenous knowledges within academic frameworks through the European EDGES initiative.