International Studies Major
College of Letters and Science

Erica Simmons

Position title: Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Faculty Director of the International Studies Major

Email: essimmons@wisc.edu

Address:
Department of Political Science
110 North Hall
1050 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706

Visit here to read full faculty profile of Erica Simmons.

RESEARCH AREAS

Simmons’ research and teaching are motivated by an interest in contentious politics, particularly in Latin America. Her research interests include Civic Society, Globalization, Human Rights, Latin America, Methodology, Revolution, Social Movements.
Check out the podcast 1050 Bascom to hear more about her work!

CURRENT RESEARCH

Her current work explores the intersection of market reforms and political resistance in the region and her dissertation on the topic was awarded the Latin American Studies Association/Oxfam America 2013 Martin Diskin award. Her recent book, Meaningful Resistance: Market Reforms and the Roots of Social Protest in Latin America (Cambridge University Press 2016) tackles questions of resistance to the marketization of subsistence in Latin America. She has published three related articles, “Market Reforms and Water Wars” (World Politics), “Grievances do matter in mobilization” (Theory and Society), and “Corn, Markets, and Mobilization in Mexico” (Comparative Politics). Simmons has also written on Bolivian politics more broadly; a co-authored article entitled “Coping by Colluding: Political Uncertainty and Promiscuous Powersharing in Indonesia and Bolivia” was published in Comparative Political Studies in November 2013.

COURSES TAUGHT

Introduction to International Studies [Intl St 101]
Introduction to Contentious Politics [Poli Sci 431]
Introduction to Contentious Politics [Poli Sci 667]
Qualitative Methods [Poli Sci 919]

AFFILIATIONS

Institute for International and Regional Studies
Department of Sociology

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Erica Simmons, and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2017. “Comparison with an Ethnographic Sensibility.” PS: Political Science and Politics 50:1 (January), p 126-130.
“Market Reforms and Water Wars.” World Politics 61:1 (January 2016), pp. 37-73.
Erica Simmons. “Corn, Markets, and Mobilization in Mexico.” Comparative Politics, Volume 48, Number3, April 2016, pp. 413-431.
Erica Simmons, 2015. “Market Reforms and Water Wars,” World Politics.
“The Case for Comparative Ethnography” (with Nicholas Rush Smith). Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Newsletter 13:2 (Fall 2015), pp. 13-18.
“The Case for Comparative Ethnography” (with Nicholas Rush Smith). Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Newsletter 13:2 (Fall 2015), pp. 13-18.
“The Case for Comparative Ethnography” (with Nicholas Rush Smith). Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Newsletter 13:2 (Fall 2015), pp. 13-18.
“Grievances Do Matter in Mobilization.” Theory and Society 43: 5 (September 2014), pp. 513-536.
“Informative Regress: Critical Antecedents and Historical Causation” (with Dan Slater). Comparative Political Studies 43:7 (July 2010), pp. 886-917
“Informative Regress: Critical Antecedents and Historical Causation” (with Dan Slater). Qualitative Methods 6:1 (Spring 2008), pp. 6-13.
Erica Simmons. Meaningful Resistance: Market Reforms and the Roots of Social Protest in Latin America. Cambridge University Press 2016.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2017
Charles Tilly Distinguishe Contribution to Scholarship Book Award for Meaningful Resistance
APSA Science Technology and Environmental Police Best Artical Award for, “Market Reforms and Water Wars”
National Scince Foundation Grant, “Rethinking Comparison in the Social Sciences.”
2016-2017
Sage Paper Award for the best paper applying or developing qualitative methods presented at the American Political Science Association. Awarded to “Comparison and Ethnography: What Each Can Learn From the Other” (with Nicholas Rush Smith).
Hilldale Undergraduate Research award for her work with Gillian McBride on the project, “A Microcosm of Global Insecurities: Community and Landscape Changes in El Salvador Following the 1973 Oil Crisis.”
Honored Instructor Award
2015-2016
Honored Instructors Award
2013-2014
Latin American Studies Association-Oxfam America Martin Diskin Award for best dissertation involving a combination of scholarship and activism (co-awarded).
2012-2013
Co-winner of the LASA/Oxfam America 2013 Martin Diskin Dissertation Award of the Latin American Studies Association for her dissertation “Markets, Movements, and Meanings: Subsistence Resources and Political Protest in Mexico and Bolivia.”
2010-2011
Mellon  Foundation Dissertation-Year Fellowship.
2008-2009
Sage Paper Award for the best paper applying or developing qualitative methods presented at the American Political Science Association. Awarded to “Informative Regress: Critical Antecedents and Historical Causation” (with Dan Slater).
Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award.