Sango Mahanty

Professor, Resources, Environment & Development

Contact details

Room: Crawford 3.51

Follow @SangoMahanty

I am a human geographer and study the politics of social and environmental change. My earlier research, including an ARC Future Fellowship, explored these related themes in a region of rapid social and environmental change along the Cambodia-Vietnam border - for more on this see Unsettled Frontiers: market formation in the Cambodia-Vietnam Borderlands (Cornell). My current work in this region examines how communities and civil society are responding to dramatic processes of nature-society transformation or “rupture”. I collaborate with civil society and government in Australia and the Asia-Pacific. I also teach postgraduate courses on social impact assessment and pollution/waste.

Areas of expertise

Human Geography

Development Studies

Studies Of Asian Society

Environmental Policy

Research Interests

Political ecology

Critical agrarian studies

Rural development

Climate change mitigation and impacts

Social impact assessment

Pollution

Mainland Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia)

Teaching

Social Impact Assessment (ANTH8028)

Toxic: Environmental Pollution and Waste (EMDV8017)

Career highlights

Research Director, Crawford School of Public Policy (current); Program Director, Resources Environment & Development Group (2018-2020); ARC Future Fellow June 2014 - June 2018; Coordinator, Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (2007-2014); Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning 2013; College Teaching Innovation Award 2012; Convenor, Deakin University’s Bachelor of Park Management and research partnership with Parks Victoria 2001-2003; Analyst at the Center for People and Forests from 2005-2007.

Current and recently completed research projects

ARC Discovery Project (2018-2020) Rupture: nature-society transformations in mainland Southeast Asia. This research examines how transformative landscape and infrastructure developments in mainland Southeast Asia are catalysing new civil society and state responses. Its findings will inform development planning and more inclusive social and environmental policy. The voices of communities affected by environmental change will be amplified, creating opportunities for dialogue. Ground-breaking insights on state-society dynamics will also enhance Australia’s security and regional leadership role.
ARC Future Fellowship (2014-2018) Frontiers of change: resources, access and agency on the Cambodia-Vietnam borderland. This interdisciplinary study examines how local actors negotiate transnational networks and markets on the Cambodia-Vietnam borderland. It will provide critical evidence and theoretical insights on how local environmental, social and political processes intersect wider transitions in this strategically significant region.
The Political Ecology of Forest Carbon - mainland Southeast Asia’s new commodity frontier? (2012-2015) Supported by an ARC Discovery Grant, this study aims to understand how forest users in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos respond to the complex local, national and regional dimensions of the emerging market for forest carbon.
Safeguarding local equity as global values of ecosystem services rise (2010-2012) Supported by a UK National Environmental Research Council Grant, the project aims to develop a framework to examine equity in the context of ecosystem services. It applies this framework in a series of case studies to explore how local-level equity is affected by changes in the global value of ecosystem services. The project involves several institutions and is coordinated by the University of Southampton.
Crafting Sustainability: addressing water pollution from Vietnam’s craft villages (2009-2012). Supported by an AusAID Australian Development Research Award, the project aims to understand the drivers of pollution from craft villages in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam.