Doctoral Dissertation Research: Hydropower Development and Indigenous Youth Agency

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This DDRI project investigates a social movement led by indigenous youth to protect a sacred reserve threatened by hydropower development. Within geography, significant work has been done with regards to environmental social movements especially within the sub-discipline of political ecology. However the role of indigenous youth and social media technology in these movements is relatively under-theorized. Social media technology and the way young people interact with it is rapidly changing how these movements organize, interact with state authorities and build networks of support nationally and internationally. These interactions are important in analyzing strategies employed by marginalized minority groups in negotiating their rights with the state. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its exploration of how indigenous youth become political subjects through their interactions with state sponsored hydropower projects, social media technology and global indigenous politics. More specifically this research will explore three questions: How are indigenous youth asserting new political identities? What productive spaces of political action have opened up at the intersection of hydropower development and indigenous youth activism? How do state-led technology and indigenous activism interact with and adapt to each other? This research will use a mix-methods approach to answer these question- interviews with government officials, indigenous youth (both pro and anti-hydropower), ethnographic observation of the reserve and participatory documentary and photography. Data will be analyzed for the divergence and convergence of opinions of state and non-state actors. The documentary project will provide rich visual data into the cultural life of the reserve and shifting political identities of indigenous youth. This research will offer valuable insight into youth agency, natural resource struggles and shifting political identities and claims of marginalized groups.The research site is based in the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, India. While the research is region specific it has widespread implications as questions of indigeneity and marginalization are being echoed in several different contexts in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Findings from this study will be widely disseminated to academic audiences in Geography, South Asian Studies, Himalayan Studies and Political Ecology through key journals in these fields. These findings will be shared with environmental organizations and activist groups working closely with similarly marginalized communities. Upon completion of this research audio-visual materials will be compiled into a short documentary with the help of a local cinematographer and be shared with broader audiences. The researcher also plans to work closely with local organizations to encourage audio-visual media projects within the community and its use as an educational and research tool for both community members and other researchers. Due to the wide-ranging political and social consequences of hydropower development the researcher hopes to generate policy level debate at both the local and national level. Within the university the researcher plans to encourage participatory research methodologies using visual media for undergraduate and graduate classes. And finally as a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.