Sarah Louise Capes (SAS) - 2022-23 Students

Indigenous Voices in International Environmental Politics: The Translation of Worlds between the Amazon and the Conference Room

This research examines the language through which Indigenous peoples’ (IP) issues are conceptualised in international environmental politics (IEP) and compares this to how Achuar and Cocama communities in the Peruvian Amazon describe the environmental challenges they face. It combines desk-based and fieldwork research, including document analysis, ethnography, and participatory methods, analysing whether IEP institutions enable IP interests to be not only voiced but authentically defined, captured, and equitably valued. It addresses the under-researched area of what is (and is not) admitted and diffused as knowledge reciprocally between Indigenous communities and the international community, examining the implications for IP.

Primary supervisor: Dr Ainhoa Montoya, SAS
Secondary supervisor: Professor Damien Short, SAS