Research

I am a human geographer broadly interested in the burgeoning influence of Chinese state capital on global economic governance, particularly what it means to the re-imagining of environmental and social ‘norms’ made dominant by western-backed development institutions.  Trained in qualitative and ethnographic research methods, my dissertation seeks to understand how advocacy organizations, which have for decades struggled to hold western-backed multilateral development financiers accountable for their environmental and social impacts, respond to the new investment policies and practices of the world’s newest multilateral development bank, the Chinese-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Through comparing advocacy organization-AIIB interactions with more established multilateral development banks, this project brings to the fore questions about the future of development practice and resistance to hegemonic power.

Subfield: political geography, global governance, geopolitical discourse, non-governmental organizations, development finance