October 2026 – June 2027

Martina Lassalle

Sociology, University of Buenos Aires

Project at HIAS

Judicial responses to environmental crime: a sociological inquiry

Martina Lassalle’s project seeks to contribute to debates about the current socio-ecological crisis by advancing our understanding of the decisive role that legal systems play in the social construction of the environmental problem. From a sociological perspective, the research examines judicial responses to environmentally harmful actions in Latin America amid the ongoing reconfiguration of the geopolitical order. In particular, it analyzes the moral values, social meanings, political rationalities and power relations that shape judicial practices, while also considering their socio-political consequences. In addition, the project explores how judicial definitions may reinforce or challenge neocolonial dynamics, structural inequalities and the hegemonic cultural and legal frameworks that shape how the environmental problem is understood and addressed. 

Her Tandem Partner is Christine Hentschel, Professor of Sociology: Security and Resilience at University of Hamburg. 

Website

Martina Lassalle

Funding

The HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.  

Tandem

Prof. Dr. Christine Hentschel, Sociology: Security and Resilience, University of Hamburg

Biography

Martina Lassalle is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Buenos Aires and conducts research at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET). She studied sociology and obtained a PhD in social sciences from the University of Buenos Aires in 2022. Over the past several years, she has held research fellowships at universities in Europe, Latin America and in the United States. In 2025, she held the CALAS Guest Chair at Bielefeld University and was a visiting fellow at the Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study. Additionally, she was a visiting fellow at the Forum Basiliense of the University of Basel and, in 2024, an adjunct associate research scholar at Columbia University. Previously, she was also a visiting researcher at the University of Granada in Spain (2023), the University of Guadalajara in Mexico (2020) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (2019). She has also collaborated with international organizations, such as the EU-LAC Foundation, on research and policy initiatives. Her first book, Killing is not always the same crime. A study on the differential punishment of murder in Argentina (2024), was published by Fondo de Cultura Económica. It provides a sociological analysis of the logics underlying the punishment of homicide in Argentina, while critically reflecting on the prohibition of killing in contemporary societies and the complex relationship between ideological values such as individual life and private property. 

Martina Lassalle specializes in the sociology of violence, crime and punishment. Her research develops theoretical and empirical analyses of the selective functioning of courts and their role in the (re)production of hegemonic values and social meanings, and power relations. She is currently focused on examining how justice systems respond to, and actively shape, some of the most pressing challenges of our time, including environmental harm and drug-related crime.  

Martina Lassalle‘s HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy as well as by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Image Information

Black and white photography of trees withouth leaves, Luke Greenwood (@luke_photography)

Lectures and Events (excerpt)

05/07/2025, #Thursday Colloquium: Illegalized Drugs and Criminalization: Rethinking the Drug-Problem in Latin America

Publications (selection)