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Director, Centre for Water and dev.
Brief info
My research focuses on the relationship between water/natural resources and development. It focuses on agricultural water use (irrigation), and its intensifying interlinkage with urban and industrial water use, with a geographical focus in South Asia and Central Asia. Theoretical emphases are the following:
The cultural political economy of (agricultural) water use, management and governance;
The comparative study of the politics of water/natural resources;
Processes of boundary work in the water/natural resources sector.
Cultural political economy of water
My research explores whether a cultural political economy perspective on (agricultural) water use, management and governance can help to develop new, interdisciplinary approaches to water and development in contemporary capitalism, incorporating insights and perspectives from political economy, political ecology and critical institutionalism. I have a specific interest in water infrastructure and landscapes as forms of ‘logistical power’. Field research in Gujarat, India on the uses and meaning of water (from the Sardar Sarovar Project) is the main research activity under this emphasis.
Comparative water/natural resources politics
My study of the politics of water and natural resources aims to employ and develop qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) through a method called stepwise small/medium-N QCA, grounded in critical realist ontology and epistemology. The research investigates the contextuality of water/natural resources (knowledge) and its implications for theory development and policy design. This emphasis will be pursued from February 2019 as the coordinator of the EU H2020 supported collaborative research project AGRUMIG on agriculture and migration in seven countries (Morocco, Moldova, Ethiopia, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Thailand and China).
Boundary work
I am interested in ‘boundary processes’ and ‘boundary work’ in the science and in the practice of the water/natural resources sector (interdisciplinarity and the science policy interface). I look at the boundary concepts, objects and settings involved in such processes and work. The research is particularly interested in analysing boundary processes in situations of social differentiation, polarisation and conflict. This emphasis is presently implemented through literature study on inter- and transdiciplinarity.