Jenia Mukherjee

Assistant Professor

Education
PhD in Environmental History, Jadavpur University, 2010
Office
Room No. 502A
Office telephone
+91 33 2321 3120/21 (Extension No. 61)
Email address:
Areas of interest:
Environmental history, urban sustainability, history of planning and development, social ecology, community development and trans-boundary water issues.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • An Introduction to the History of America (jointly with C. Palit), New Delhi: Cambridge University Press
  • History and Beyond: Trends and Trajectories (jointly edited with C. Pality), New Delhi: Kunal Books, 2014.

Book Chapters and Articles

  • Water Trajectories through Non-networked Infrastructures: Insights from Peri-urban Dares Salam, Cochabamba and Kolkata, Urban Research and Practice (forthcoming).
  • The Adi Ganga: A Forgotten River in Bengal, Economic and Political Weekly, vol.51,no.8., February 20,2016.
  • Mega-urbanization in Eastern Kolkata: Vision and Reality, in Sumita Chaudhuri ed. Facets of Urbanization: Views from Anthropology, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.
  • Sustainable Flows between Kolkata and her Peri-urban Interface in Mark Swilling, Adriana Allen and Andrea Lampis, eds, Untamed Urbanisms, UK: Routledge 2015.
  • Beyond the Urban: Rethinking Urban Ecology using Kolkata as a Case Study, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development , Feb. 2015.
  • Mega-urbanization in Eastern Kolkata: Vision and Reality (jointly with Amlan Kanti Ray), Mega-Urbanization and Human Rights: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities, Commission on Urban Anthropology (CUA) (forthcoming).
  • Historical Materialism as a Methodology : Relevance of the Hobsbawmian Paradigm in History in C. Palit and A. Dhar (eds) Homage to Hobsbawm, Kolkata: Corpus Research Institute, 2014.
  • Women-led Water Governance for Sustainable Irrigation in West Bengal, India>, (jointly with S Halder), Indian Science Cruiser, vol. 27, no.2, March 2013.
  • Indigenous ‘Adaptation’ to Imperial Forestry: A Study of the Southern Awadh Province Between Late Eighteenth and Early Century (jointly with Owafi Biswas), CLIO: An Annual Journal of History, vol. 12 issue 12, January-December 2012.
  • The Farakka Barrage: A Review from the Indo-Bangladesh Perspectives after 36 years, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 72nd session (Patiala: IHC, 2011-12).
  • A Bid-adieu to the Buddhist Philosophy, Praxis and Preaching: Experiences at Rumtek, Society and Change, vol. 5, no. 1, (Jan – March, 2011).
  • Slums vs. Squatters: Issues of Development, Displacement and Resistance in the Eastern Canals of Calcutta, Proceedings of the National Seminar on Community, Institutions and Participation in Natural Resource Governance, University of Hyderabad, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, 2011.
  • Rammohan Ray in Western Thought: New Issues and Perspectives, in Keka Datta Roy and Chitta Ranjan Misra, ed, Reflections in History: Essays in Honour of Professor Amalendu De Raktakarabee, Kolkata, 2009-10.
  • Water Management in Medieval India: Towards Economic Dexterity and Ecological Sustainability, in Mahua Sarkar (ed), Environment and History: Recent Dialogues, Kalpaz Publishers, New Delhi, 2008.

Occasional Paper

  • No voice, no choice: Riverine changes and human vulnerability in the ‘chars’ of Malda and Murshidabad, Occasional Paper 28, IDSK, July 2011.

Reports and Reviews

  • Environmental Security in the Ganges ‘chars’, West Bengal, (IUCN, forthcoming).
  • Shrinking Cities and the Indian Paradox, Business Economics, July 16‐31,2015.
  • Translocal Learning for Water Justice: Peri‐Urban Pathways in India, Tanzania and Bolivia, (Water Justice City Profile: Kolkata, India) (UK: The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London, April 2015).
  • Dhirendranath Nath Baskey’s ‘Biallisher August Andolone Saontal Janagosthi’, Manwa Katha: Journal of Ashin Dasgupta Institute of Tribal History, vol. II, no. 1, April 2008.

Translation

  • Translation of Irfan Habib, Man and Environment with Swagatalaxmi Majumder, Kolkata: Progressive Publishers.

Compilations

  • Compiled Four Essays on Economic History with Prof. Jayanta Acharya and Dr. Subhasri Ghosh, IDSK, 2011.
  • Compiled Media, Markets and Democracy with Dr. Subhasri Ghosh, et al., IDSK, 2011.

PROJECTS

Ongoing

  • ODF Status verification in the ODF declared Gram Panchyats Co-investigator: Jenia Mukherjee, Funding Agency: Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of West Bengal, Duration: started in January 2016.

Completed

  • Translocal learning for water justice: Periurban pathways in India, Tanzania and Bolivia (WatJust),Principal Network Partner : Jenia Mukherjee, Funding Agency: International Social Science Council (ISSC), Duration: September 2014 – March 2015.
  • Studies on Link Between Material Existence and Religiocultural Practices of the Marginalised People Living in the Coastal Areas of Bay of Bengal, Project Advisor & Technical Editor: Jenia Mukherjee, Funding Agency: Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) , Duration: January 2014–April 2015.
  • Ecosystem for Life: A Bangladesh-India Initiative
    Principal Investigator: Jenia Mukherjee; Co-Principal Investigator: Gorky Chakraborty; Funding Agency: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Duration: Started in July 2011.
  • Adjusting to ‘AILA’: Climate Change, Vulnerability and Adaptation in the Cyclone Affected Areas of Sundarbans, India
    Principal Investigator: Bidhan Kanti Das; Co-Principal Investigator: Jenia Mukherjee; Funding Agency: IDSK.
  • Worked as Research Fellow in Participatory Irrigation Management Project (PIMP), Puruliya (West Bengal, India) and Gender Hygiene Programme (GHP) at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata under the supervision of Dr. Dhrubajyoti Ghosh.

TEACHINGS

  • Field Survey Techniques(Paper II A: Methodological Approaches in Development Research, M.Phil Programme in Development Studies).
  • History (Special Paper IV A: Global History in the Twentieth Century; IV B: Environment and Development in contemporary India, MPhil Programme in Development Studies, affiliated under Calcutta University).

SEMINAR/ CONFERENCE/ LECTURE

  • At Risk: Understanding Kolkata’s Vulnerability through Dichotomies in Urban Planning at the conference on Sustainable Urbanization in India: Challenges and Opportunities, organized by the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) at IDSK, January 2015.
  • Adi Ganga: The Forgotten Saga at the youth seminar on Sustainable Solutions for Access to Safe Water: Promoting Innovation and Collaboration, organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), December 2014.
  • Beyond the ‘Urban’ : A Sustainable Definition of Urban Ecology using the Case Study of Kolkata at the international conference on Environment, Technology and Sustainable Development organized by IIITM, Gwalior, ISEC, Bangalore and University of San Francisco,USA at Gwalior, March 2014.
  • Ecosystems for Life: Identifying the Role of ESS in Community Adaptation and Sustenance in the ‘Chars’ of the Ganges, West Bengal at the Multi-stakeholders discussion: Focussing on Lives and Livelihoods in Chars organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), Bankok, December 2013.
  • Sustained or Sustainable Urbanization? A Critical Exploration of the Spatial Expansion of Kolkata (India) since the Post-colonial Era at the international conference of World Social Science Fellows on Sustainable Urbanization: Innovative Approaches to Understanding Urbanization in the 21st Century organized by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, Ecuador (Quito), March 2013.
  • Historical Materialism as a Methodology: Relevance of the Hobsbawmian Paradigm in History at a day-long seminar on A Tribute to Hobsbawm organized by the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, December 2012.
  • Women-led Water Governance for Sustainable Irrigation in West Bengal (with S.Halder) at the national seminar on Women-led Water Management organized by IRRAD and UNICEF in Gurgaon, Haryana, November 2012.
  • History of Waters in Colonial India at the week-long national workshop on Planet, People or Profit? The ‘Perilous Passage’ and Capitalist Transformation of the Natural World (funded by the Indian Council of Historical Research) at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, September 2012.
  • Ecosystems for Life: Studying the Role of Ecosystem Services in Community Adaptation in Ganges ‘Chars’ at the international workshop on Managing Community Impacts of Climate Change organized by Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, Australia and Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, March 2012.
  • Indigenous ‘Adaptation’ to Imperial Forestry: A Study in the Southern Awadh Province Between Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century at the ICHR sponsored national seminar Making of a Region : Purvanchal organized by D.D.U Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, February 2012.
  • The Farakka Barrage: A Review from the Indo-Bangladesh Perspectives After 36 Years at the 72nd Session of Indian History Congress, Punjabi University, December 2011.
  • Presented a Dissemination Report on the ‘Ganges ‘Chars’ of West Bengal’ at the Joint Research Team Meeting of IUCN on Eco-system for Life: Bangladesh India Initiative in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 2011.
  • Participated in the IUCN programme on Trans-boundary Water Management and interacted and exchanged views with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) secretariat in Uganda and WWF on Mara Basin conservation and management incorporating community participation in Kenya (September 2011).
  • Participated at the IUCN Eflows (Environmental Flows) training and workshop for South Asian countries in Kathmandu, Nepal (August 2011).
  • Participated at the consultation methodology meeting of IUCN, a part of the IUCN’s project on Ecosystem for Life: Bangladesh-India Initiative, in Kathmandu, Nepal (August, 2011).
  • ‘Big’ conservationist approach vs. popular science: Exploring the dynamics of wetland eco-system in the peri-urban interface of Calcutta at the two-day workshop on Managing Community Development in the Ganga Basin in response to Climate Change, supported by Australian government (AusAID), in Dhaka (April 2011).
  • Exploring the various facets of ‘urban environmentalism’: The politics of pollution, petition and protection in the canals and wetland of Calcutta at the one-day workshop on Environmental Pollution, Protest and Protection in Historical Perspective, organized by Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, under the UGC sponsored Special Assistance Programme (March 2011).
  • Slums vs. squatters: Issues of development, displacement and resistance in the eastern canals of Calcutta at the national seminar on Community, Institutions and Participation in Natural Resource Governance organized by Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad (March 2011).
  • Mega-urbanization in Eastern Kolkata: Vision and Reality at the international conference on Mega-Urbanization and Human Rights: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities, organized by Department of Anthropology, West Bengal State University in collaboration with Indian Museum, Anthropological Survey of India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, and Centre for Alternative Research in Development (February 2011).
  • Carrying the legacy of Sun-Yat-Sen and much more: Soong Qingling and China in the Red Years at the 71st session of the Indian History Congress, Gaur Banga University, in Malda (February 2011).
  • Climate change and the intensification of vulnerabilities in the ‘chars’ of West Bengal at the international conference on Community development in the Ganga Basin in response to climate change organized by the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, India and Monash Sustainability Institute, Australia (September 2010).
  • Invited to a lecture on Vulnerability and Crisis in the ‘chars’ of West Bengal: Community Adaptation or Adjustment? at the department of International Crisis Management, Monash Asia Institute, Melbourne, Australia (July 2010).
  • Community development in the Lower Gangetic Basin: A study of ‘chars’ (bars) in West Bengal at the international conference on Developing pro-active policy and practice for land and water management responsive to climate change organized by Monash University, Australia and funded by the Australian Government (AUSAID) (July 2010).
  • Kankyoshi: Internal conservatism and external nihilism in entrepreneurial Japan, 1945-1995 at the 70th session of the Indian History Congress, Delhi University (May 2010).
  • Colonialism or Modernity: Assessing the Impact of Scientific Techniques in the Evolution and Maintenance of Calcutta’s Eastern Canal System at the national seminar on Science, Technology and Society: A Historical Perspective organized by Jadavpur University under UGC-SAP (March 2010).
  • How a Canal Changed a City and How a City Changed a Canal: Erie Canal and Tolly’s Nullah in Comparative Light at the national seminar on American Environmentalism and South Asia: Comparative Perspectives organized by the department of History, Jadavpur University in collaboration with United States-India Educational Foundation, Kolkata and Fulbright Alumni Association (September 2008).
  • Water Management in Medieval India: towards an Economic Dexterity and Ecological Sustainability at the international seminar on History of Waters in South Asia’ organized by the department of History, Jadavpur University (UGC-DRS Programme) in collaboration with MAKAIAS, Kolkata, certified by Richard Grove (March 2006).
  • Unish-bish Sataker Bratyo Sanskriti: Astitva Sankat banam Astitva Raksha(The Question of Identity of Sub-altern Culture in the Nineteenth and Twentieth century Bengal) at Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad (January 2006).
  • Polluting the Ganges and its Canals in Kolkata: A Deep Questioning at the national seminar on Rivers and Society: Historical Perspectives in India organized by the department of History, Jadavpur University and the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Kolkata (March 2004).
  • Jal, Nadi O Sabhyatar Bikash: Prasanga Bharatbarsha (Water, River and the History of Civilization: the Indian Context) at Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad (January 2004).