Moynihan Institute News, Research and Commentary

“Globally, safe water access for all can be achieved only by involving Indigenous and local communities in water governance and climate planning. People are not voiceless, they simply remain unheard. The way forward is through listening,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

"Why Don't South Asians in the U.S. Count As 'Asian'?: Global and Local Factors Shaping Anti-South Asian Racism in the United States," co-authored by Professor of Sociology Prema Kurien, was published in Sociological Inquiry.

“The control of oil and gas resources has been a key factor in many conflicts and geopolitical imperialism, either by providing part of the motivation for an invasion or by helping countries fund their militaries,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. “Conflict, in turn, feeds production by driving up oil and gas prices,” she adds.

The relationship between the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the government and people of India dates back more than 70 years, with thousands of senior officials taking advantage of Executive Education’s training and degree programs, and others study through some of the most prestigious fellowships offered.

While there is an unavoidable conflict in a petrostate hosting a climate summit, it may also be fitting: The country that was home to the oil industry’s beginnings may also host negotiations that could one day bring the petroleum era to an end. “It is possible to frame it as something of a closure,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

"The recent set of labour reforms are also an encouraging development. Numerous labour regulations have been consolidated into four codes, eliminating contradictions among them," writes Devashish Mitra, professor and chair of economics. 

Women in Bangladesh suffer disproportionately during floods, as Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, has documented in a study, in part because they bear the brunt of responsibility for managing water and food for their household, as well as taking care of their children.

“Carbon inequality is effectively a colonisation of the atmosphere by the capitalist elite of the planet through hyper-consumption and pollution, while the cost of that climate coloniality is borne disproportionately by the marginalised and vulnerable communities in developing countries,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

Two Maxwell students are among the five selected as Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows and will work on a research project that examines American news media coverage and United States policymaking related to the war on terror.

“As the world prepares for COP28, the onus is on global leaders, corporations and individuals to rise to the occasion and champion the cause of climate justice. Wealthy nations must start putting real funding towards loss and damage, while ramping up their mitigation and adaptation efforts, and reining in the influence of the fossil fuel industry in climate policies,” Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, writes in The Guardian.

Prema Kurien and Janet M. Wilmoth received awards, and several faculty colleagues were elected to roles in the American Sociological Association. 

Mona Bhan, professor of anthropology and Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies, co-edited and was a contributing author to the “The Palgrave Handbook of New Directions in Kashmir Studies” (Palgrave, 2023).

"One initial impetus for the book was my desire to bring geography’s concepts and insights into better conversation with topics in Middle East area studies," says Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment. "Although over a decade has passed since I started research on this topic, expanding the disciplinary connections between geography and Middle East area studies continues to be a core goal."

Prema Kurien, professor of sociology, says there is a logical reason why immigrant groups exhibit higher rates of religiosity. “Immigration and relocation from a familiar context to something completely unfamiliar is a theologizing experience,” Kurien says. “It raises existential questions—things that people don’t think about when they are in their home country with a familiar community.”

"Trajectories of Translation," co-authored by Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, was published in Progress in Human Geography.

One of 15 geographers from 11 states and the West Indies, Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, will focus on climate and society. 

Six faculty members were granted tenure and promoted to associate professor and three were promoted to professor.

The position was created with a gift by Syracuse University alumni Yang Ni and Xiaoqing Li to strengthen connections between Maxwell faculty and scholars in China and Asia.