Sara Mejia Munoz

Sara Mejia Munoz is an Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland, specializing in ecological justice and legal pluralism within green extractivism contexts across Latin America.

Educational background:

• Master of Development Practice, University of Queensland, Australia (2019-2021)
• Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia (2009-2015)

Her research critically examines extractive industries through legal pluralism and political ecology frameworks, focusing on indigenous rights violations in lithium mining (Chile) and solar energy projects (Colombia). She challenges green economy narratives by exposing historical asymmetries and advocating for non-human rights perspectives in sustainable development discourse.

Recent publications analyze how lithium extractivism perpetuates colonial power structures and explore affective approaches to development critiques through plant-centered ontologies, emphasizing indigenous knowledge systems and multispecies justice.

Professional roles include:

• 2022–Present: Tutor for Political Dynamics of Development, Sociology of Environment, Globalisation & Development, and History of Development at UQ
• 2020–Present: Project Coordinator Consultant at EarthRights International (Peru)
• 2020-2021: Research roles with Konrad Adenauer Foundation and UQ Institute for Social Science Research
• Prior legal experience with EarthRights International, CooperAcción, and Colombian human rights organizations

She contributes to UQ's SocioHealthLab and Bioarchaeology Network (BONE), integrating anthropological methods with ecological justice frameworks in interdisciplinary research teams.