I am a political ecologist with interests in environmental movements and environmental politics in northern India. My research draws upon a variety of theoretical and conceptual approaches (including feminist theory, social movement theory, and geographic approaches to studying society-environment interrelationships) to examine the role of collective action civil society groups in influencing environmental politics and resource use activities. Previous research explored the regional context of anti-deforestation movements in India’s Himalayan foothills and asked how the Chipko “tree-hugging” movement both shaped and was shaped by changing approaches to forest policy and ideas regarding appropriate resource use practices. Results of this research were published in the Indian Geographical Journal and are available online as a Master’s Thesis from the University of Kentucky Libraries.
My dissertation project, ‘Pollution Knowledge and Hydropolitics in the Ganges River Basin’, investigates the emerging anti-pollution movement along India’s Ganges River. This research is concerned with the ways in which collective action groups reflect and reshape knowledge regarding “pollution” and river water resources, and how they affect the context in which decisions regarding resource use are made. My dissertation research sites include Kanpur, Allahabad, and Varanasi— thee large, urban centers in the populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Fieldwork is scheduled for completion in April of 2009 and the anticipated completion date for the dissertation is March of 2010.
I am an active member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and manager/administrator of a number of geography-related listservs, including GEOGFEM (Discussion List for Feminism in Geography), AGSG (Asian Geography Specialty Group of the AAG), and RegDevPLAN (Regional Development and Planning Issues). For more information on these group lists, or to subscribe, please email me at the address listed above or go to lsv.uky.edu.