Background

My academic background is mainly within Social Anthropology, International Development and Gender Studies. I hold a B.A. in Social Anthropology from Stockholm University. In 2008, I received my Master’s degree from LUMID, Lund University Master in International Development and Management. My Master thesis was based on field studies among Peruvian migrant women in Santiago de Chile.
After an internship with Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) in La Paz, Bolivia, I returned to Lund to start my PhD studies at LUCID in April 2009

Research interests

Keywords: Environmental discourse, Climate change, Intersectionality, Bolivia, Gender

In what ways do we talk about ourselves and our societies when talking about the environment? Which aspects of our identities are emphasized, and which are neglected? How are power relations among humans manifested, reinforced and challenged in these processes? In my doctoral research project I am exploring the complex interactions of environmental debates and social structures in Bolivia, and how social categories such as ethnicity, class and gender are mobilized, reinforced and negotiated in environmental discourses. Bolivia is an interesting case as ongoing negotiations of identity have been drawn into recent environmental debates, for instance around climate change policy and large-scale infrastructure projects. Environment has been mobilized in the government’s project of redefining the state, while the government has in turn been criticized by social movements for keeping double discourses on environmental issues. I am employing an intersectional analytical framework as a sensitive tool to understand the complex patterns of interaction and power in this particular context.  

Empirical material is collected through ethnographic studies in Bolivia where I have so far carried out participant observations and conducted interviews with Bolivian government staff, representatives of popular movements, development cooperation officers, diplomats, environmental activists and staff members from Bolivian and international NGOs. I have also collected documents from the government and various bilateral actors and NGOs, as well as blogs and texts from local and international media, which, along with interview transcripts and observation notes, are studied through discourse analysis.

Furthermore, I am involved in a project which aims to apply an intersectional theoretical framework within the field of sustainability science. Also, I have been exploring the gender dimensions of climate change. I was in the organizing committee of a workshop on Gender, Power and Climate Change that was held in Lund in March, 2010. In January 2012 I was part of the organizing team of the doctoral course Being Human in Times of Climate Change, addressing climate change from various social scientist and humanist perspectives.

Teaching

Keywords: Gender, Intersectionality, Climate Change, Development

Since 2009 I have been a teaching assistant for undergraduate and master level coursesin various departments, giving lectures on:

• Gender and Climate Change; Human Ecology Department and Faculty of Engineering, Lund University
• Gender and Development, LUMES Programme, LUCSUS, Lund University

I have also been an assistant Supervisor for the LUMID Master Programme, Lund University

Moreover, I have been engaged to give public lectures on Gender and Climate Change by the municipalities of Lund and Linköping, as well as during the Perspektivdagarna event at Malmö University, and by Nordiska Rådet as a panelist in an event on the same theme.

Papers and publications

Kaijser, Anna (2011). Intersektionalitet för klimatsolidaritet: Om klimatdiskussionen i Bolivia och vikten av analytisk komplexitet (Intersectionality for climate solidarity: On climate discussions in Bolivia and the importance of analytical complexity). In Tidskrift för Genusvetenskap 2011:4 Abstract in English »

Kaijser, Anna (2010). “Glitterdrömmar”. In Bang No 3, 2010

Kaijser, Anna (2010). “Development Cooperation as an Arena for Discursive Clashes: The Case of Sida in Bolivia.” Paper presented at the Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change: Social dimensions of environmental change and governance, October 8-9, 2010

Kaijser, Anna (2010). Paper presented at the Gender, Power and Climate Change Workshop, Lund University, March 18-19 2010

Giovanni Bettini, Anna Kaijser, Anne Jerneck (2009). ”Multidimensional Mobility – Politics of Place and People: Merging Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Environmental Migration.” Paper presented at the Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet, December 2-4, 2009

Kaijser, Anna (2008). “Same City, Worlds Apart: A Case Study of Housing among Peruvian Migrant Women in Santiago de Chile.” Master thesis, Lund University Master in International Development and Management, May 2008