My story is my choice to be a curious mind and a creative soul. I identify myself as an indigenous author, artist, analyst, and academician. One World. Having lived in 10 countries in South and Southeast Asia, South and North America, East Africa, and Europe has pushed me to adapt and speak about 10 languages.
My professional career has been with a diverse range of institutions - starting with non-governmental organizations, working with philanthropy, and research organizations, and most recently with an academic/ higher educational institute. As an anthropologist, my work have always been on the interface of the social and political ecology of forests, agroforestry, small farms, and land tenure rights of rural and mainly Indigenous communities including pastoralists and hunting-gathering tribes in the tropics. The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (Kungl. Skogs- och Lantbruksacademien or KSLA) elected me as an International Fellow. I became the first woman from India to become a member of KSLA. Academic: First in family history to receive a Ph.D. degree in Forest Rights. An interdisciplinary study in social science, and environmental science from Wageningen University, the Netherlands . My Masters degree is from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and hold Bachelor's degree in Human Development. Fellowships include Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at the University of California, Berkeley; the Biodiversity and Monitoring Program at the Smithsonian Institute, Front Royal, Virginia; and Training in Environment Education at CEE, Ahmedabad, among a few others.
|