ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Ph.D in Economics Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), University of Madras, 2001.
Thesis: State, Communities and the 'Forest Question' in the Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu: A Study of the Political Economy of Decentralisation

M.A. Rural Development, University of Sussex, U.K.,1990
B.A. History and Political Science, Williams College, U.S.A., 1988

AREAS OF RESEARCH

My research interests include the political economy of natural resource management/conflict, agrarian transformation, the politics of environment policy making and practice and decentralisation and state-civil society relations. Much of my work pertains to understanding when and how the 'environment' becomes important in policy, what form environmental policy takes and its impact upon different social classes and castes. In an era of neo-liberalism, both the environment and decentralized, participatory management of the environment are buzz words/buzz phrases. What my research tries to understand is how this discourse translates itself into practice in specific geographical areas, most notably forested landscapes. Currently, I am doing field work with regard to the politics of forest policy in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka and trying to understand the impact of social movements around water in the context of water reform in India.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Associate Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Chennai (November 2006 - To present

Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), Bangalore (June 2002 - October 2006)

Project Associate at the Madras School of Economics (December 2000 - May 2002).

Project Associate at Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), January 1997 - November 2000

Editorial Assistant for the journal Review of Development and Change, (M.I.D.S publication), January-September 1996.

Research Assistant at Madras Institute of Development Studies, October-December 1992.

Research Associate, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, February 1991-September 1992.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Books

Menon, A.; Singh, P; Shah, E; Lele, S; Paranjape S. and Joy, K J (2007). Community-based Natural Resource Management: Issues and Cases from South Asia, Sage, New Delhi.

Journal Articles / Book Chapters

Menon, A; Hinnewinkel, C; Garcia, C; Guillerme, S; Rai, N and Krishnan, S (forthcoming). 'Competing Visions: Domestic Forests, Politics and Forest Policy in the Central Western Ghats of South India', Small-scale Forestry.

Menon, A; Karuppiah, S and Stephen, J (2008). 'Reconfiguring the Coast', Economic and Political Weekly, 43(16), April 19-25.

Menon, A (2008). 'Situating Law: The Political Economy of Environment and Development in India', in Christoph Eberhard (ed.), Law, Land Use and the Environment: Afro-Indian Dialogues, IFP, Pondicherry.

Menon, A and Patil, I (2007). 'Kudregundi Halla Tank: Conflict Over Seepage Water and Competing Needs', in K.J. Joy, Suhas Paranjape, Biksham Gujja, Vinod Goud and Shruti Vispute (eds.), Water Conflicts in India: A Million Revolts in the Making, Routledge, New Delhi.

Menon, A (2007). 'Engaging with the Law on Adivasi Rights', Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (24), June 16-22.

Kiran Kumar, A K; Menon, A and Patil, I (2006). 'Methodological Challenges of Social Science Research on Land Use Change and Watershed Services: Insights from the Western Ghats', in Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Sharachchandra Lele and R. Jayakumar (eds.), Hydrology and Watershed Services of the Western Ghats, India: Effects of Land Cover Change, Tata McGraw-Hill, Bangalore.

Menon, A and Vadivelu, A (2006). 'Common Property Resources in Different Agro-climatic Landscapes in India', Conservation and Society, Vol. 4, No. 1, March.

Menon, A (2006). 'The Making of Environmental Policy and Legislation in India and the Construction of Social Nature', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 41, No. 3, January 21.

Menon, A and Lele, S (2005). 'Draft NEP: A Flawed Vision', Seminar, 547.

Menon, A (2005). 'Where are the Forests? Legal Pluralism and Land Use Change in the Kolli Hills', Indian Socio-Legal Journal, (special issue on legal pluralism).

Menon, A (2004). 'Colonial Constructions of "Agrarian Fields" and "Forests" in the Kolli Hills', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 41(3).

Menon, A (2003). 'Forests, Law and Land Use in the Kolli Hills, India' in R. Pradhan (ed.), Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law in Social, Economic and Political Development, ICNEC, Kathmandu.

Menon, A (1999). 'Common Property Studies and the Limits to Equity: Some Conceptual Concerns and Possibilities', Review of Development and Change, Vol.4, No.1, January-June.

Menon, A and Saravanan, V (1996). 'Displacement and Rehabilitation Policies: The Case of the Kolli Hills Hydro-Electric Project', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31, No. 43, October 26.

Menon, A (1995). 'Constructing the Local: Decentralising Forest Management', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No.35, August 26.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Lele, S; Patil, I; Badiger, S; Menon, A and Kumar, R (2008) 'The Economic Impact of Forest Hydrological Services on Local Communities: A Case Study from the Western Ghats of India', SANDEE Working Paper NO. 36-08.

Menon, A (2005) 'NEP 2004: Market Fundamentalism' (editorial), Economic and Political Weekly, 40(2), January 8.

Lele, S and Menon, A (2005). 'Neo-liberal Verbiage', Down to Earth, 13(16), January 15.

Menon, A and Lele, S (2003). 'Critiquing the Commons: Missing the Woods for the Trees?', The Common Property Resource Digest, No. 64, March.

Menon, A (1995). 'American Scholars and South Asian Studies', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 49, December 2.

Menon, A (1994). 'Institutions and Economic Analysis: Theoretical Considerations for Natural Resource Management', M.I.D.S. Working Paper, No. 119.

Menon, A (1993). 'Decentralising the Provision of Public Services: Exnora's Efforts at Garbage Collection in Madras', M.I.D.S. Bulletin, January.

Membership In Academic Societies

International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism
International Association for Ecological Economics