GDI is celebrating the release of two new books by GDI academics – Armando Barrientos’ Social Protection in Latin America: Causality, Stratification and Outcomes (Palgrave) and Charis Enns’ Settler Ecologies: The Enduring Nature of Settler Colonialism in Kenya(University of Toronto Press), co-authored with Brock Bersaglio.

Social Protection in Latin America offers a comprehensive analysis of social protection in Latin America, its origins, institutions, and outcomes, advocating a causal inference approach to the study of the institutions that have dominated social protection in the region: occupational insurance, individual retirement savings, and social assistance. If you’d like to watch a lecture based on the book’s findings, head to the GDI YouTube channel. Armando has also written a blog based on the book, in which he explores the viability of implementing a European-style ‘welfare state’ in Latin America.

Settler Ecologies tells the story of how settler colonialism becomes memorialized and lives on through ecological relations. Drawing on eight years of research in Laikipia, Kenya, the book uses immersive methods to reveal how animals and plants can be enrolled in the reproduction of settler colonialism. Listen to a podcast interview with Charis about the book on the New Books Network.

Episodes on the GDI podcast this month include: