Researching Postcapitalist Possibilities

Great news! We are now able to confirm the PhD scholarship in Transitioning to caring economies has been awarded to Swarnima Kriti.

Swarnima is an action researcher in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. She has both lived and worked in a small Indigenous village with a group of young women interested in questions of gender, development and ecology. Together, Swarnima and the other young women have set up a cooperative called Chinhari: The Young India (www.chinhari.co.in). Swarnima has completed an MPhil in Development Practice, and published some articles. Her latest published article is “Hegel and India” at The GCAS Review. 

Swarnima will join the caring economies project and be based at Massey Palmerston North, while living in Porirua and back in Chhattisgarh for parts of the PhD project. Her project includes enabling a creative and constructive exchange of learning between communities doing community-based economic innovation in India and New Zealand. Our research partners in Porirua are Te Hiko centre for economic innovation. I asked Swarnima a couple of questions in the lead-up to her big shift to Aotearoa New Zealand.

What attracted you to the Transitioning to caring economies project? 

The Transitioning to caring economies project attracted me because of two reasons. One, it gave me the opportunity to learn about collective economic subjects, their actions and institutions. And two, it focused on “writing rights” i.e. writing about efforts communities put into finding sustainable ways of life than  “writing wrongs”. These learnings become important for action researchers like me to create a confluence of alternatives nurturing post capitalist practices.

What do you think the biggest challenges will be in completing your PhD at Massey?

I believe my biggest challenge in completing this PhD would be my field work in New Zealand, especially building a relationship with communities there. My work in the past has been largely based on my strong relationships with the community. It may be challenging to juggle between understanding the community, living with them, creating relationships and minimizing the cultural gap. 

We look forward to having Swarnima arrive and join us at Massey and the Community Economies Research Network NZ, beginning in November 2023!