Joshua Muldavin

Research

For an overview of Prof. Muldavin’s current research, take a look at Notes from the Field.

Eastward and Upward featuring Joshua Muldavin and his SLC student researchers from the Winter 2006 issue of Sarah Lawrence Magazine.

Read Roots of Terror featuring Joshua Muldavin from the Spring 2003 issue of Sarah Lawrence Magazine.

My research focuses on political ecology, livelihoods and vulnerability analysis, food and agriculture, human-environment relationships, international development aid, peasant theory, social and environmental justice, environmental policy, environmental sustainability and “Third World” development. My primary country focus is China, and my regional focus is Asia broadly defined.

  1. Co-PI, “Conservation, sustainability and poverty alleviation in the Himalayan Region: do participatory environmental policies work?” Four-country project on environmental policy and livelihoods in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region, with Prof. Piers Blaikie. [Funded for 2006-09 by a National Science Foundation Grant]
  2. “Conservation, sustainability and poverty alleviation in China: the role of Japanese environmental ODA in China’s development.” A survey and analysis of Japanese environmental aid to China since 1978. [Funded for 2006-08 by a Social Science Research Council Abe Fellowship]
  3. “Food, Agriculture, Environment and Development.” A forthcoming college-level curriculum for a new DVD release of “The Future of Food,” a documentary film by Deborah Koons Garcia on GMOs and agriculture.
  4. Ongoing research on the impact of decollectivization on rural development in China, with special attention given to the environmental and social consequences of this process.
  5. A survey and analysis of international aid to China since 1978.
  6. A survey and analysis of Japanese and European foreign policy towards China and Asia since 1978.
  7. Co-PI of UC San Diego’s Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation-funded project on the political ecology of Central Asia
  8. China PI for a five-country MacArthur Foundation-funded international comparative research project on the environmental impacts of collectivization and decollectivization.
  9. Global restructuring processes, changes in national-level policies, and their environmental impact on localities.
  10. A comparative investigation of the environmental, social, and economic impacts of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) along the borders of the U.S. and Mexico, Hong Kong and China.