Ethnic Identity, Salience of Politics, and Democratic Participation: A Comparative Study of Ethnic Majority and Minority Communities in the Sundarbans, in Coastal India

Nisha Bellinger is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Studies in the School of Public Service, Boise State University, ID, USA. Her research interests focus on political economic themes in a global context, with a regional expertise in South Asia. She is the author of two peer-reviewed books and several peer-reviewed articles, and also often shares her research expertise with a general audience through various outlets and forums.

Akash Sharma is an independent researcher and journalist based in India. They hold a master’s degree in development studies from IIT Mandi and specialize in environmental sociology, with a focus on the intersection of ethnography, climate change, and agriculture. Their work explores climate-change-induced agrarian crises and socio-environmental inequalities.

Shyamasree Dasgupta is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India. Her research interests are around environmental and energy economics and the economics of climate change. She has been engaged in developing the climate vulnerability and risk map for India and has several publications and national documents in this area.

Saleh Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. He is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, and his work lies at the intersection in environment, development, and social justice. Most of his current research focuses on the implications of structural inequalities and the legacies of colonization on social and environmental vulnerabilities in climate-stressed regions.