Akarath Soukhaphon
PH.D. CANDIDATE IN GEOGRAPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, USA
Supervisor: Ian Baird
Collaboration with: Ubon Ratchathani University
Research Topic: Ruptures at home: scaling down hydropower development impacts on ethnic Lao spaces in the Lower Mekong Subregion
The Mekong River and its tributaries have long been a source of vitality for those living along its banks. It has served as a conduit for material and intellectual exchange throughout history.
Today, traditional knowledges and networks have been disrupted due to changing ecologies brought on by the construction of large hydropower dams.
By employing a feminist political ecology framework that focuses attention on often overlooked marginalized scales and bodies, I aim to challenge the conventional discourse touting the benefits of hydropower by considering how such development projects, and subsequent ecological changes, have impacted long-standing social relations within and among ethnic Lao communities in northeastern Thailand, southern Laos, and northeastern Cambodia.
