Mountain Livelihoods in Transition: Constraints & Opportunities in Kinnaur, Western Himalaya

This dissertation research, funded by a Fulbright award, investigated the transformation of the tribal District of Kinnaur in the Indian Himalaya. Dr. Rahimzadeh examined Kinnauri adaptation to political, economic, environmental, and social events of the last seven decades, including state intervention, market integration, and climate change. Her ethnographic research found that Kinnaur’s transformation and current economic prosperity have been chiefly induced by outside forces, creating a temporary landscape of opportunity. State-led interventions including land reform and a push to supplement subsistence agriculture with commercial horticulture initiated a significant agrarian transition beginning with India’s Independence.

Analyzing climate change and its consequences on Kinnaur, Dr. Rahimzadeh’s research makes a valuable contribution to the field by showing how climate change may provide a temporary landscape of opportunity for once-marginalized peoples. Her research illustrated how climate change is shifting land use practices and changing patterns of agricultural production. Formerly non-arable land in the high-altitude zone is being placed under apple production and contributing to growing prosperity, albeit temporary. Kinnauri livelihood diversity has decreased with growing dependence on one dominant cash crop, resulting in vulnerability to fluctuating markets and weather conditions.