Profile

How do relationships of power and politics affect our ability to achieve just, equitable and environmentally beneficial forms of development? Indeed, what exactly is power, and how does it operate in the context of environmental change? And how can we, as academics, activists and practitioners transform unjust and environmentally destructive relationships of power to create more positive change?

These questions broadly unite my research, which covers two overlapping arenas: disaster vulnerability and the operation and effectiveness of disaster aid, and rural livelihoods in the context of global environmental change. My research is based in Sri Lanka and India. My research philosophy is to use the tools of critical social sciences to directly inform and assist practitioner and activist communities.

I have a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, and a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from the University of Mumbai, India. From 1998-2001, I worked for the Solar Electric Light Company, helping build the business for solar energy-based rural electrification in India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. I have also worked with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and other environmental justice campaigns in the U.S. and Sri Lanka.

Research Interests

Disaster vulnerability and disaster aid politics

This project builds on my PhD research on the politics of disaster aid after the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Based on extensive field work in Sri Lanka, I examine the discourses and practices of tsunami aid projects, and seek to inform our understandings of the politics of aid, the production of vulnerability, and the dynamics of coastal livelihoods. This research aims to inform theory from the ground up, through ethnographic and survey-based research of three types of tsunami aid programs: efforts to rebuild livelihoods, participatory house-reconstruction projects, and efforts to use tsunami aid to kick-start a stalled peace process between the government and rebels in Sri Lanka. I am also extending this research to inform the field of adaptation to climate change.

Rural livelihoods in the context of global environmental change

This research covers previous projects on (and an ongoing interest in) the topics of a) agriculture, food security and livelihoods in the context of environmental change, and b) the relationship between rural electrification, renewable energy and livelihoods.

Teaching

I teach two courses on the MSc in Environmental Change and Management course: a core module on Development and the Environment (Michaelmas), and an elective course on Vulnerability, Adaptation and Development (Hilary). I enjoy working with MSc students on their dissertations on a wide variety of topics.

Publications and reports

• Kapadia, K. (in review) Sri Lankan livelihoods after the tsunami: searching for entrepreneurs, unveiling relations of power. Disasters.
• Liverman, D. and Kapadia, K. (2010) Food systems and the global environment: an overview. In, Ingram, J., Ericksen, P. and Liverman, D. (eds.) Food Security and Global Environmental Change. pp. 3-24. London: Earthscan.
• Ingram, J. And Kapadia, K. (2010) Stakeholders' approaches to regional food security research. In, Ingram, J., Ericksen, P. and Liverman, D. (eds.) Food Security and Global Environmental Change. pp. 212-220. London: Earthscan.
• Kapadia, K. (2006) Reviving livelihoods after the tsunami: identifying gaps in existing programmes. In, Steele, P. (ed.) Livelihoods in post-tsunami Sri Lanka: "building back better"? Colombo: Institute of Policy Studies.
• Kapadia, K. and Ghertner, D. (2005) Transforming place, placing transformation. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 7(1): 118-130.
• Kammen, D., Kapadia, K., and Fripp, M. (2004) Putting renewables to work: how many jobs can the clean energy industry generate? Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory Report, University of California, Berkeley.
• Kapadia, K. (2003) Promoting the productive uses of renewable energy technologies: an analysis of World Bank and GEF experience and strategy. World Bank Consultant Report.
• Kapadia, K. (2003) The not-so-sunny side of solar energy markets: a case study of Sri Lanka. MA Project Report, University of California, Berkeley.
• Kapadia, K. (2002) Home-grown power plants: the case for wood-based energy systems in Sri Lanka. Refocus, 3(6): 34-39.
• Kapadia, K. (1999) Off-grid in Asia: the solar electricity business. Renewable Energy World, 2(6): 23-33.

Other interests

Fiction, and its ability to educate, empower, and critique - I dabble in writing short stories with environmental themes. I am also an obsessive reader of analyses of the financial crisis.