Dr. Amit John Kurien

Assistant Professor (Environmental Science)

About

Amit is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist interested in the multidimensional issues that emerge at the convergence of environmental change and rural societal dynamics. He is interested in the empirical dynamics, social meanings, and political ecology of land-use change. His thematic focus is on forest, agriculture, and livelihood changes in the jhum (swidden) upland landscapes. His research investigates the drivers, trajectories, and consequences of change within forest–plantation–jhum landscape mosaics, with particular attention to their implications for food security, socioeconomic differentiation, and livelihood sustainability in the Garo Hills of northeast India.

Amit’s research and teaching aim to provide a better understanding of the conundrums of environmental and related social issues with a keen interest in informing theory and in the hope of positive social change. He adopts interdisciplinary research framings and adopts a methodologically pluralist approach that combines remote sensing and GIS with qualitative and quantitative social science methods. Originally trained as a conservation biologist, he draws on ecological and social science perspectives to study coupled human–environment systems. Amit has prior undergraduate and post-graduate teaching experience at science, social science, and arts institutes in India.

"Never lose sight of the role your particular subject has within the great performance of the tragi-comedy of human life; keep in touch with life […] and, Keep life in touch with you." - Erwin Schrödinger, Science and Humanism

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Hepp, C.M., Kurien, A.J., Tong, X., & Bruun, T.B. (2026). Shifting cultivation as a driver of deforestation: Misinterpreted data, misguided conclusions, and misplaced blame. One Earth.

Link: https://www.cell.com/one-earth/abstract/S2590-3322(26)00107-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2590332226001077%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Aguiar, D., Ahmed, Y., Avci, D., et al. (incl. Kurien, A.J.) (2023). Transforming critical agrarian studies: Solidarity, scholar-activism and emancipatory agendas in and from the Global South. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 50(2), 758–786.

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2023.2176759

Kurien, A.J., Lele, S., & Nagendra, H. (2019). Farms or forests? Understanding and mapping shifting cultivation: A case study of West Garo Hills, India. Land, 8(9), 133.

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/9/133

Lele, S., & Kurien, A. (2011). Interdisciplinary analysis of the environment: Insights from tropical forest research. Environmental Conservation, 38(2).

Link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/abs/interdisciplinary-analysis-of-the-environment-insights-from-tropical-forest-research/989C2516082F7EFD89889BE4026AE5A5

Book Chapters
Kurien, A.J. (2026). Ecologies of deprivation and persistence: The absent state and Garo adaptation during the pandemic. In Tribe, State and the Environment of India's North East. Orient Blackswan. (In press)

Kurien, A.J. (2022). Reliable, or not? Rethinking shifting cultivation estimates to inform land-use policy. In A Tradition in Transition (pp. 220–245). TERI, New Delhi.

Other Publications
Kurien, A.J. (2021). Facing the pandemic crisis in Garo Hills. Seminar, Issue 748, pp. 65–69.

Link: https://www.india-seminar.com/2021/748.htm

Policy Outreach
Kurien, A.J. (2026). Jhum’s stubborn roots: Misunderstood science, curious persistence. In de Maaker et al. Community involvement in Conservation and Livelihood Initiatives in the Eastern Himalayas: Reflections on practices and policies, IMI & NESRC, pp. 37–45.

de Maaker, E., Notsu, A., Chettri, A., Kurien, A.J., & Sharma, R.K. (2026). Community involvement in Conservation and Livelihood Initiatives in the Eastern Himalayas: Reflections on practices and policies, IMI & NESRC. ISBN: 978-81-938785-9-0

Popular Writing, Commentary, and Editorial Contributions
Kurien, A.J. (2026) The Problem with David Attenborough’s Spectator Environmentalism, Scroll, 5^th

Iyer, S., Kurien, A.J., & Nunna, B.P. (2023). Unaddressed Loss & Damage of Climate Change. Deccan Herald, 14 December.

Kurien, A.J. (2023). The Anthropocene: looking back to move forward. Down To Earth, 10 July.

Ramanujam, R.V., & Kurien, A.J. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic and complex effects on farmer and food-supply chains: an early dispatch from India. CASAS.

Kurien, A.J. (2022). Guest Editor. Rethinking shifting cultivation. Courting the Environment, 3(1).

Kurien, A.J. (2019). Meghalaya: ‘Invisible’ shifting cultivation and paper forests. Eastern Himalaya, 5(4), 2–3.

Kurien, A.J. (2011). Old Trajectories & New Strategies. Current Conservation, 4(4), 3.

Kurien, A.J. (2007). 14° North, 104° East – Unveiling the Cambodian plains. Sanctuary Asia, June, 50–57.

Political ecology of land use change

Land systems science

Shifting cultivation systems

Mountain and hill forest & agriculture environments

Agroecology, Agrarian studies

Rural livelihood sustainability

Awarded the Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Fellowship (2013-15) from Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust & Foundation for Ecological Securities (FES)

Dr. Amit John Kurien

Assistant Professor (Environmental Science)

Ph.D

School of Liberal Arts and Sciences

amitk@rvu.edu.in
Bengaluru