Kariuki Kirigia
Assistant Professor, School of the Environment and African Studies Centre, New College
Kariuki Kirigia is an assistant professor within the School of the Environment and the African Studies Centre at New College. Kirigia’s research lies at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity conservation, territories of life, land governance, food security, African epistemologies and pedagogies, and sustainability in Africa. He adopts engaged approaches to research sutured by partnerships with African Indigenous organizations and African universities.
Prior to joining the University of Toronto, Kirigia completed his PhD in anthropology from McGill University which was then followed by a Fonds de recherche du Québec — Société et culture (FRQSC) -funded postdoctoral fellowship at Concordia University in Montreal which examined the institutional alienation of African Indigenous communities from conservation in Kenya.
In the past, he has conducted research on the nexus between floriculture investments, land and water governance, and local food security in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands; agriculture, youth, and food security in Ghana; vocational education and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Tanzania; payment for ecosystem services (PES) in Uganda; and community-driven hydroelectricity projects and microfinance loans among small-scale entrepreneurs in Central Kenya.
Some of Kirigia’s key publications include journal articles, book chapters, and an edited volume titled ‘African Potentials’ for Wildlife Conservation and Natural Resource Management: Against the Image of ‘Deficiency’ and Tyranny of ‘Fortress’.
Kirigia is currently working on a book manuscript titled, Promises of Property: The Expansion of Capitalist Relations on an African Indigenous Frontier and participates in several collaborative research projects in Africa and North America focused on various themes including climate change, biodiversity conservation and land governance.