Cesar Estien
He/They
I am queer and I am an urban ecologist.//
I am a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley where I research how societal inequity and environmental injustices influence biodiversity, wildlife behavior, and wildlife health. I’m interested in how the systemic and structural oppression of humans leaks into ecological processes to directly shape the phenotype of animals and the environment wildlife experience.
I use many facets of my identity, including being Black, Latin, and Queer, to inform the questions I ask and how I engage with the field of ecology. I see many parts of myself reflected in the urban wildlife I study, primarily coyotes and raccoons, as individuals that are misunderstood and often mischaracterized by the general public – similar to how my otherness (e.g., Queerness) may be (or is) misunderstood. Researching these misunderstood and multifaceted animals has helped me situate in and learn more about my queerness in ways I would’ve never imagined 🙂