Desert Food, Water & Livelihoods

This program studies food systems under environmental scarcity. Rajasthan’s arid landscape provides a living classroom to examine drought-resistant crops, water harvesting systems, pastoral economies, and grain markets shaped by climate variability.

Students engage resilience theory, household-level food narratives, gendered labor structures, and public food security mechanisms. Seminars are paired with field visits and systems mapping workshops that allow students to analyze how adaptation occurs across ecological and social scales.

Outputs focus on Food Resilience Proposals or Ethnographic Grain & Livelihood Portfolios.

Students will:

Map water–food interdependencies in arid ecosystems.
Analyze adaptation strategies under drought stress.
Examine gendered labor and migration in food security systems.
Interpret public policy responses to climate variability.
Produce a resilience-focused food systems dossier.

Geography

Anthropology

Sustainability

Development Studies

Political Ecology

Public Policy

Jaipur

Rural Rajasthan

Local Markets

Water Harvesting Sites

Day	Location	Academic Engagement	Learning Emphasis
1	Jaipur	Arrival; seminar: Aridity, scarcity & food systems	Context framing
2	Jaipur	Workshop: Water–grain systems mapping; resilience frameworks	Systems toolkit
3	Jaipur	Climate variability & drought adaptation lecture	Environmental analysis
4	Field Context	Visit: Traditional water harvesting system; dialogue with local practitioners	Indigenous knowledge
5	Field Context	Agricultural site visit; drought-resistant crop study	Production under scarcity
6	Field Context	Household food narratives (guided interviews)	Ethnographic depth
7	Jaipur	Grain market analysis; price fluctuation mapping	Economic dimension
8	Jaipur	Gender, labor & migration seminar	Social structure
9	Jaipur	Public distribution system workshop; food security policy	Governance systems
10	Jaipur	Resilience proposal studio I	Translating insight
11	Jaipur	Peer review & revision	Analytical rigor
12	Jaipur	Final synthesis seminar	Integration
13	Jaipur	Presentations; departures	Closure