![[Translate to English:] Preisträgerin Dr. des. Mariah Freitas Monteiro](/fileadmin/_processed_/f/c/csm_csm_Bild_Preisverleichung_Mariah_Freitas_Monteiro_c330b42b09_1c0378bb81.webp)
As part of the Dies Academicus 2026, Dr. des. Mariah Freitas Monteiro receives the Professor Sutor Foundation Award for Social and Political Ethics. The award recognizes her dissertation on the historical roots of the massive use of pesticides in Brazil.
Her work makes an important contribution to current debates on environmental justice, global responsibility, and the history of agricultural modernization. By focusing on Brazil, Freitas Monteiro examines one of the world’s leading exporters of agricultural goods. Her dissertation pays particular attention to the role of the transnational company Bayer.
The study shows how state-led modernization policies and economic interests helped establish an agricultural model in Brazil that is structurally dependent on chemicals. In doing so, Freitas Monteiro connects historical research with pressing questions of environmental, economic, and social policy.
Mariah Freitas Monteiro has been connected to KU for many years. She first came to Eichstätt as an exchange student and is now a research associate at the Chair of Latin American History.
ZILAS warmly congratulates Mariah Freitas Monteiro on this distinction.
