Research
My research combines critical and action-oriented thinking with community-engaged research praxis to explore the politics of and pathways to just sustainability transitions.
In a time of exacerbating inequality, enduring poverty and widespread climate disruption, I firmly believe that we cannot talk about sustainability without a serious consideration of its intersections with social justice, equity and oppression. Questions around who participates in community-driven sustainability initiatives and local governance processes; who has access to public spaces and for what sanctioned uses; and the broader question of how sustainability movements either reinforce or dismantle existing structures of oppression, are critical in every geographic context. In doing this work, I collaborate with scholars in critical geography, sociology, environmental science and policy studies, and with community organizations and practitioners.
Below you can find some popular articles and videos about my research.
Articles about my research
A politics of possibility. A blogpost on my research written by Liz Ivkovich of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah
Its not easy being green. UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix profile's my research in Bangalore
Videos of lectures
Critical Sustainable Consumption: A transformative research agenda. My talk at the Sociological Forum hosted by the Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva, May 2019
Class, poverty and urban sustainability in Bangalore, India, University of Utah, Global Change and Sustainability Seminar Series, Salt Lake City, November 2016, A write-up of my talk here
Opening plenary of the International Conference on Sustainable Lifestyles, Livelihoods and the Circular Economy, that I co-chaired. Hosted by the Institute for Development Studies and the University of Sussex, June 2017
Non-academic writing by me
Segregation- a core concept in discard studies. Co-written article in the Discard studies compendium, written with Aman Luthra
In Bangalore, crisis in waste management forces change. My article in The Hindu about Bangalore's waste crisis and lessons for other cities
A day in the life of a waste picker. My article in The Alternative about waste work and waste picker rights
Talking waste with pourakarmikas, My article in The Alternative about what Bangalore's sanitation and conservancy workers think of the zero waste movement
The overconsuming parasite, A blogpost reflecting on what the Oscar-winning movie Parasite reveals about over and under-consumption, inequality and space in cities.
A politics of possibility. A blogpost on my research written by Liz Ivkovich of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah
Its not easy being green. UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix profile's my research in Bangalore
Videos of lectures
Critical Sustainable Consumption: A transformative research agenda. My talk at the Sociological Forum hosted by the Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva, May 2019
Class, poverty and urban sustainability in Bangalore, India, University of Utah, Global Change and Sustainability Seminar Series, Salt Lake City, November 2016, A write-up of my talk here
Opening plenary of the International Conference on Sustainable Lifestyles, Livelihoods and the Circular Economy, that I co-chaired. Hosted by the Institute for Development Studies and the University of Sussex, June 2017
Non-academic writing by me
Segregation- a core concept in discard studies. Co-written article in the Discard studies compendium, written with Aman Luthra
In Bangalore, crisis in waste management forces change. My article in The Hindu about Bangalore's waste crisis and lessons for other cities
A day in the life of a waste picker. My article in The Alternative about waste work and waste picker rights
Talking waste with pourakarmikas, My article in The Alternative about what Bangalore's sanitation and conservancy workers think of the zero waste movement
The overconsuming parasite, A blogpost reflecting on what the Oscar-winning movie Parasite reveals about over and under-consumption, inequality and space in cities.
