Abinaya Gnanasekar

Abinaya graduated with a BA Honors in Anthropology from the University of Western Ontario and is currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Development Studies with a diploma in Asian Studies at York University. During her undergraduate degree, she had the opportunity to participate in a semester abroad program at the Birla Institute of Technology in Goa, India. Abinaya also participated in an SSHRC-funded research project in Madagascar that observed the effects of development initiatives on communities, focused on conservation and sustainability. Her passion for travel, social justice as well as the experiences over the four years of undergrad have contributed to her research interests. As a first year graduate student, Abinaya’s research will focus on gender in agriculture and the impacts of development initiatives, polices and approaches in addressing the “invisible farmers” in Southeast Asia, namely, Indonesia. Her research aims to look at whether current policies have taken a gendered approach, what policies are working and what are not, and whether the female farmers are able to participate in their own development.