Jennifer Keahey

I am a development sociologist with more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications on issues pertaining to global justice and sustainable development. I have worked in several world regions and possess significant expertise in anti-racist, anti-colonial, and feminist perspectives. I am particularly interested in Black, Indigenous, and Global South development approaches that challenge conventional thought/praxis. I am skilled in the use of qualitative, mixed, and participatory action research (PAR) methods that open spaces for multi-paradigmatic knowledge building.

My work advances development theory and practice in two key ways. First, it decolonizes theory to improve understanding of development and its alternatives. By interrogating the power dynamics informing sustainability in action, I unpack structural, relational, and cognitive barriers and identify pathways for transformation. Second, my work informs social research methods through the publication of critical reflections and systematic reviews of practice. By clarifying standards and methods that support connection across difference, I strengthen ethics for interdisciplinary and intercultural engagement.

I currently am working on two book projects that problematize the politics of sustainability through the lens of social justice.

Decolonizing Sustainable Development is a solo-authored comparative historical study of post-authoritarian transitions to sustainability in Latvia and South Africa. This book unpacks the oppressive legacies and insurgent knowledges informing development in societies situated at two frontiers of the modern-colonial world system. More specifically, it examines efforts to develop alternative food systems and sustainability agendas at a time of democratization and free-market triumphalism. Drawing from qualitative and participatory fieldwork with local farming communities, the book offers situated insight into cultural negotiations with marginalization and agency; tradition and modernity; heritage and change. It joins political economy analysis with the Indigenous knowledges of formerly colonized peoples to develop a decolonial theory and practice of sustainable development that challenges business-as-usual.

Democratizing Energy is an edited volume on energy and democracy. As co-editor, I have organized a diverse body of scholars to examine questions pertaining to energy insecurities, risks, and transitions to sustainability. Their rich contributions range from theoretical coverage of energy imaginaries to empirical analyses of alternative energy formations that are occurring in societies around the world.

I also remain involved in a research project on development ethics and research methods. Currently, I have produced three solo-authored articles: (1) a systematic review of peer-reviewed sustainable development studies that employ participatory action research to facilitate transitions to sustainability; (2) an article on development research ethics that delivers a common set of principles for planning, conducting, and evaluating international development research; and (3) a article on transnational feminisms that examines the politics of oppression and liberation in development.

Completed Research Projects

• Livelihoods and Well-Being in the South African Cederberg
• Knowledge and Capacity in South African Rooibos Tea
• Organic Agriculture and Market Development in Latvia
• Fair Trade Movement: The Case of Ten Thousand Villages