My PhD thesis (SOAS 2005) documented natural resource use by nomadic shepherds in India’s Western Himalayas. An article (published here in the Journal of Agrarian Change) examined how alterations in wider political and economic contexts have transformed the arrangements through which access to grazing resources are negotiated. A companion piece (published here in SAMAJ) considered the relationship of identity and place to illustrate what happens when questions of ‘access’ and ‘rights’ come into competition with one another. Together these articles contribute to a literature on the ways in which natural resources are used, owned and managed and suggest new approaches to issues of sustainable and equitable resource use.

Here are a few photos to show some of the places and people I’ve been writing about.