Dr Nithya Natarajan
Senior Lecturer in International Development
Research interests
- International development
- Environment
- Equality
- Employment
Contact details
Biography
Dr Nithya Natarajan is a Senior Lecturer in International Development. Her work focuses on South India and Cambodia, and explores agrarian change, rural-urban livelihoods, labour precarity, gender and debt.
She completed an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded PhD at SOAS, University of London, and a postdoctoral research position at Royal Holloway as part of the ESRC-Department for International Development (DfID)-funded ‘Blood Bricks’ research project.
Nithya is a co-investigator on the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)-funded project ‘Depleted by debt? Focusing a gendered lens on climate, credit and nutrition in translocal Cambodia and South India.’
Her work features in a range of journal articles, book chapters and edited volumes. She has also engaged with policy and activist outputs in disseminating her research, notably in Open Democracy, through a Home Affairs Select Committee submission regarding the UK Modern Slavery Act. Additionally, she is part of a team working to submit a petition to the United Nations Business and Human Rights Working Group with regard to her work on the Cambodian construction sector.
She also has extensive teaching experience, having taught in the Development Studies and Politics and International Studies departments at SOAS, University of London and in the Department of Geography, King’s College London prior to joining in the Department of International Development.
Research
- Agrarian change
- Climatic and environmental change
- Rural-urban livelihood transition
- Gender and social reproduction
- Changing state dynamics
- Labour relations and precarity
- India and Cambodia
Nithya's research focuses on three key areas:
1) Rural livelihoods and Agrarian change, for which she researches rural communities in South India and Cambodia that are experiencing agrarian decline. She focuses, in particular, on the role of climate change, state political economy and social relations in exploring how and why the shift away from agriculture takes place, and the lived experiences of rural communities. She also explores how change is differentiated along lines of caste, class and gender.
2) Livelihood and reproductive strategies amongst rural households, for which she researches the different strategies that rural households are taking to reproduce themselves day-to-day in light of waning agricultural incomes, and retrenched state support.
3) Debt, gender and social reproduction: most recently, she focuses on the gendered dynamics of debt-taking in rural households in Cambodia and South India, in contexts of climate disasters.
Teaching
Postgraduate
- 7YYD0024 Project Management in International Development
PhD supervision
Nithya would be happy to supervise students in any of the following areas:
- Agrarian change, farming and rural labour
- Precarity, debt-bondage and rural-urban labour migration
- Debt and livelihoods
- Social reproduction in rural households
Further details
Research
Contemporary Marxism Research Group
The Contemporary Marxism Research Group use the varieties of Marxist theory to analyse the contemporary world, with special reference to political economy and to political and social movements.
Urbanisation, Rural Development and Social Transformations research group
A research group examining urban-rural development and its effect on the developing world.
Cities, Climate and Capital in the Greater Indian Ocean World
A research group examining cities, climate, and capital in the Greater Indian Ocean world.
King's Climate Research Hub
Studying climate change through the relationship between science, policy and culture, particularly in the developing world.
Elemental Adaptation: Water and energy security from artificial ice reservoirs
This project explores the potential of Artificial Ice Reservoirs (AIRs) as alternative water sources, and the implications in mountainous regions.
Project status: Ongoing
Global Capitalism, Power & Uneven Development research group
We study the many ways in which the world-system unevenly constrains and drives development everywhere, with its persistent structural hierarchies, dependencies, contradictions, and unequal power relations between classes, ethnicities, genders, races, and states.
Climate, Environment, and Uneven Development research group
This group focuses on the critical study of the processes that drive and link social and ecological change in the contemporary world, with special attention to the climate crisis and its multiple social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions.
News
New study finds that microfinance is exacerbating climate precarity and harm in Cambodia
The paper, co-authored by King’s academics, critically examines green finance and ways microfinance contributes to climate precarity and harm for farmers in...
Events
A collaborative discussion about Global Capitalism research at KCL
A platform for academics to explore setting up a multi-disciplinary, trans-departmental Center for Global Capitalism at King's.
Please note: this event has passed.
The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism with Adrienne Buller
Based on her new book, The Value of a Whale, Adrienne Buller will discuss the limits of financialization of nature as a solution to the multiple environmental...
Please note: this event has passed.
Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development
'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.
Please note: this event has passed.
Launch of the Geoforum special issue: Placing Surplus Populations in Global Capitalism
A discussion on the themes of the upcoming special issue of Geoforum between the editors, contributors and discussants
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
'Places without postcards' highlights impact of climate change around the world
The Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy has created a collection of ‘postcards’ from key places around the globe that tell an important story around...
Unpacking microfinance as a driver of 'modern slavery' in Cambodia's brick sector
The ESRC-FCDO-funded ‘Blood Bricks’ research project, highlights how a key driver of debt bondage or modern slavery in brick kilns is the taking of...
Research
Contemporary Marxism Research Group
The Contemporary Marxism Research Group use the varieties of Marxist theory to analyse the contemporary world, with special reference to political economy and to political and social movements.
Urbanisation, Rural Development and Social Transformations research group
A research group examining urban-rural development and its effect on the developing world.
Cities, Climate and Capital in the Greater Indian Ocean World
A research group examining cities, climate, and capital in the Greater Indian Ocean world.
King's Climate Research Hub
Studying climate change through the relationship between science, policy and culture, particularly in the developing world.
Elemental Adaptation: Water and energy security from artificial ice reservoirs
This project explores the potential of Artificial Ice Reservoirs (AIRs) as alternative water sources, and the implications in mountainous regions.
Project status: Ongoing
Global Capitalism, Power & Uneven Development research group
We study the many ways in which the world-system unevenly constrains and drives development everywhere, with its persistent structural hierarchies, dependencies, contradictions, and unequal power relations between classes, ethnicities, genders, races, and states.
Climate, Environment, and Uneven Development research group
This group focuses on the critical study of the processes that drive and link social and ecological change in the contemporary world, with special attention to the climate crisis and its multiple social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions.
News
New study finds that microfinance is exacerbating climate precarity and harm in Cambodia
The paper, co-authored by King’s academics, critically examines green finance and ways microfinance contributes to climate precarity and harm for farmers in...
Events
A collaborative discussion about Global Capitalism research at KCL
A platform for academics to explore setting up a multi-disciplinary, trans-departmental Center for Global Capitalism at King's.
Please note: this event has passed.
The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism with Adrienne Buller
Based on her new book, The Value of a Whale, Adrienne Buller will discuss the limits of financialization of nature as a solution to the multiple environmental...
Please note: this event has passed.
Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development
'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.
Please note: this event has passed.
Launch of the Geoforum special issue: Placing Surplus Populations in Global Capitalism
A discussion on the themes of the upcoming special issue of Geoforum between the editors, contributors and discussants
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
'Places without postcards' highlights impact of climate change around the world
The Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy has created a collection of ‘postcards’ from key places around the globe that tell an important story around...
Unpacking microfinance as a driver of 'modern slavery' in Cambodia's brick sector
The ESRC-FCDO-funded ‘Blood Bricks’ research project, highlights how a key driver of debt bondage or modern slavery in brick kilns is the taking of...