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Tea Harvest

Agrarian Studies, Climate Change and the Future of work

Professor Sarah Besky

The future of work is hot. Literally. Unpredictable seasons, droughts, floods, warming temperatures, rising seas, and a host of other climatic factors are changing what work is, what it means, and what it does to the body. These effects are unevenly felt across geographies and forms of difference


Questions about the future of work in the context of climate crisis are as much about techno-fixes as they are about home and family. They are as much about urbanization as they are about villages, towns, and remote extraction sites. Plantations, mines, roads, as well as the expanding service sector in the country or seaside side resorts, are critical sites for understanding the future of work in the context of climate crisis.

Besky will collaborate with Dr. Hadia Akhtar Khan to form the Agrarian Studio Lab as a vibrant intellectual community for research about labor and the environment.