Abstract

Over the past few years, successive heatwaves across India have been deemed to be pushing human survivability. Despite established experiences of hot weather across South Asia, climate change induced heat is reshaping the ways in which people live and work. The poor, in particular, who are employed in manual labour, face the highest risks of heat exhaustion and heat-related illness. In this context, where working becomes life-threatening, how do people make do? This talk explores the ways in which extreme heat impacts the ways in which people sustain a living, the emerging political economy of heat in India. 

Bio

Sohini Kar is a socio-cultural anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on economic anthropology, and on urban South Asia. In particular, she looks at the impact of increasing financialization on poverty, development programs, and social movements.