Adriana Abdenur

Adriana Abdenur Adriana Abdenur

Adriana Abdenur (PhD, Princeton) is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the New School and a faculty fellow at the India China Institute. Her research and teaching areas include international development, urban inequality, education development, and environmental sociology. Her current research examines processes of urbanization in emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. Through the India China Institute, she has also been collaborating with International Relations scholars on a study of urban networks in post-conflict border regions.


News

Summer 2009

  • As of July 2009, I am joining the faculty of the Department of International & Transcultural Studies at Columbia University, Teachers college.  My email will change to aea57@columbia.edu
  •  I am spending much of the summer as coordinator of GPIA's International Field Program in Kunming, China, supervising graduate student field research on urban development and environmental issues in Yunnan Province.

    Spring 2009

    • I was awarded a Fubright research fellowship to conduct research on urban and environmental issues in Brazil in the spring of 2010.
    • Talk: April 20 - "Greening New York City: Lessons from Abroad" Manhattan Young Democrats, New York
    • Talk: April 23 - "The Newark Greenwalk Project" Environmental Studies Brownbag, the New School
    • In March, I will be presenting a paper on international urban networks in Kaohsiung, Taiwan; later that month I will be in New Delhi through the India China Institute.
    • My article “The Strategic Triad: Form and Content in Brazil’s Triangular Cooperation Practices” just came out in a volume on South-South Transfer edited by Linda Chisholm and Gita Steiner-Khamsi.
    • This semester I am teaching an undergraduate course on social theory and a graduate research seminar on Cities & Globalization (syllabi will be posted soon)
    • This summer I will be Faculty Coordinator for the GPIA's International Field Program in Kunming, China. We will be based out of Yunnan University, working on issues related to development, governance, and environmental conflicts.

    Fall 2008

    • In late November, I will be back in Beijing for another round of research collaborations through the India China Institute.
    • On November 6, I will be giving a talk on Urban Evictions at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
    • I will be giving a lecture on urban mapping techniques at the University of Amsterdam on October 2.
    • Brian McGrath of Parsons and I were awarded a grant from the Design and the Social Sciences fund to carry out a collaborative project on environmental justice in Newark, New Jersey. We'll be incorporating the project into our respective courses by getting students involved in the mapping, design, and research components.
    • My paper "A quem pertence este bairro? Remções e resistência no centro de Joanesburgo" [in English: Who Belongs in this Neighborhood? Evictions and Resistence in Downtown Johannesburg], drawing on my research in South Africa last summer, is forthcoming in a volume edited by Bianca Freire-Medeiros and Maria Helena Braga e Vaz da Costa from Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro.

    Summer 2008

    • I will be spending the summer of 2008 conducting research on urban inequality in China and India through the ICI fellowship. I will also be giving talks on urban planning and politics in China in Beijing (June) and Rio de Janeiro (July).
    • On February 15 I will be speaking about globalization and urbanization in China at a New School symposium on Shenzhen called "Vexed Urbanism: A Symposium on Design and the Social"
    Publications


    Book Projects

    "Favelas on the Asphalt: Land Conflicts in Urban Brazil"

     "Reimagining Borders" (Volume co-edited with Li Bo, Nimmi Kurian, Lily Ling, and Mahendra Lama)


    Articles and Book Chapters

    Abdenur, A. (2008) “Networking for Legitimacy: TriangularCooperation in International Aid” in Gita Steiner-Khamsi and Linda Chisholm (Eds.) South-South Transfer. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Abdenur, A. Review of "Justice" The Americas 63:4, 704-705.

    Abdenur, A. (2006) “Opening Doors: Networks and Social Capital among Rio de Janeiro Doormen” (under review)

    Abdenur, A. (2002) “Tilting the North-South Axis” Current Issues in Comparative Education, Vol 2:3. Abdenur, A. and N. Esparza (2002) “Consolidating Cultural Approaches to Inequality” Culture Vol . 30:5. American Sociological Association.

    Abdenur, A. (2001) Horizontal Networks: International Cooperation inEducation Development. MA thesis, Columbia University Teachers College,New York.

    Steiner-Khamsi, G. and A. Abdenur (2001) “Teacher Education in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique” World Bank Report, Washington DC.

    Steiner-Khamsi, G. and A. Abdenur (2001) “Design for a School GrantProject in Northern Mozambique” World Bank Report, Washington DC.


    Education

    Princeton University Ph.D., Sociology (focus: International Development, Globalization, Urban Sociology) – 2006

    Teachers College, Columbia University, MA, International Education – 2001

    Harvard University AB, East Asian Studies – 1997 (exchange program at Beijing University, 1995-6)


    Teaching

    Current Courses

    • Global and Gateway Cities (graduate) - Spring 2009
    • Modern Social Theory (undergraduate) - Spring 2009
    • Cities and the Environment (undergraduate & graduate versions) - Fall 2009

    Past Courses

    • Comparative Development (graduate)
    • Urbanization and Inequality in Brazil and South Africa (graduate)
    • Environmental Conflicts (undergraduate)
    • Urbanization & Inequality in South Africa (graduate field research program held May-August 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa)


    Grants, Honors and Awards

    Design & the Social Sciences Grant, 2008-9

    Faculty Fellowship, India China Institute, 2007-2009

    CSISS/NSF Grant for GIS Analysis, 2007

    American Sociological Association, Best Student Paper in Urban Sociology, 2006

    National Science Foundation scholarship for SPACE workshop, 2006

    National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2005

    National Academy of Science Doctoral Travel Grant, 2005

    GEOIDE-Canada Doctoral Award for GIS Study, 2005

    NSF/IGERT Doctoral Scholarship for GIS Study, 2004

    OPR Program in Urbanization and Migration Summer Research Grant, 2005

    Fellowship of Woodrow Wilson Scholars, 2004, renewed 2005

    William Eberstein Award for Latin American Studies, 2005

    Center for Migration and Development Research Grant, 2004-5

    PIIRS Dissertation Writing Fellowship, 2005 (declined)

    Princeton Environmental Institute Research Grant (principal author), 2005

    Princeton Institute for International Studies Dissertation Grant, 2004

    Council on Regional Studies Dissertation Travel Grant, 2003

    Program for Latin American Studies Dissertation Travel Award, 2003

    Program for Latin American Studies Research Grant, Princeton, 2002

    University Fellowship, Princeton University, 2001-5

    Program for Latin American Studies Award, Princeton, 2001, renewed 2002

    Department Merit Scholarship, Columbia University Teachers College, 2000-1

    McCord Prize for Graduating Senior, Harvard, 1997

    Harvard Institute of Politics Research Award, 1995

    Harvard University Scholarship, 1993-1997


    Summer Workshops     (all attended with grants)

    NSF/SPACE Workshop on Spatial Analysis – UC Santa Barbara, Summer 2006

    GEOIDE Summer School in GIS – Quebec, Canada. Spring 2005

    Sackler Symposium on Early Urbanization – Washington DC, Summer 2005

    Vespucci Program for GIS Study – Fiesole, Italy. Summer 2004

    Presentations and Guest Lectures

    "Urban Networks: A Critical Geography Approach" Democratizing International Relations conference, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, March 2009

    "Urban Development and Evictions: A Comparative Perspective" World Economic Forum Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2008

    “Mapping the Favela: The Politics of City Maps in Rio de Janeiro” Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 2008

    “Environmental Justice in Brazil and China” Program for Environmental Journalists NGO, Beijing, China, June 2008

    “Build andThey Shall Come? China’s CBDs and Their Repercussions for Urban Inequality”Prosperity and Inequality Conference, India China Institute, New York City, March 2008

    “Urbanizationfor Globalization: Central Business Districts in China” Shenzhen Panel, The NewSchool, February 2008

    Chair: Panel on the Urban Environment, India China Institute, New York City Residency, March 2008

    “Free Speech and the New School” Human Development and Capabilities Association Conference, New York, NY – September 2007

    “Three or Four Things You Can Do With a Favela: Comparative Urban Governance in Brazil” Latin American Observatory Annual Conference, The New School, April 2007

    “Favela Policies in Rio de Janeiro: Changing Policies” New York University - February 2007

    “Urban Social Policy in Contemporary Brazil” Latin American Studies Conference, Columbia University – November 2006.

    “The Landless and the Roofless: Social Movements in Comparative Perspective” Brazil Center, SIPA, Columbia University - October 2006.

    “Comparing Subnational Government and Policy in Mexico, Brazil, and Peru” Panelist, Latin American Studies Association conference, San Juan, PR – March 2006.

    “Removal, Neglect and Upgrading: Slum Policies in Urban Brazil Since 1990” Fellowship of Woodrow Wilson Scholars, Princeton University – December 2005.

    “Capturing the City: State, Class and Segregation in Rio de Janeiro” Center for Migration and Development. Princeton, NJ - April 2005

    “Economic Restructuring and Class-Based Segregation in Rio de Janeiro” American Geographers Association annual meeting. Denver, CO - April 2005.

    “The Effects of Crime on Political Mobilization in Rio de Janeiro Favelas” Center for Latin American Social Policy, University of Texas-Austin. Austin, TX - March 2004

    “Opening Doors Upstairs: Networks and Social Capital among Ipanema Doormen” Culture & Inequality Workshop. Princeton University, NJ - February 2004

    “Cross-Class Interaction and Mobility among Low-Income Service Workers in Rio de Janeiro” Eastern Sociological Society conference. Philadelphia, PA - March 2003

    “Intergenerational Mobility and Parental Strategies Among Ipanema Doormen” Program for Latin American Studies, Princeton University, NJ - September 2002

    “Horizontal Networks of Technical Cooperation in Education” Guest Speaker, Columbia University Teachers College. New York, NY - May 2002

    “Can Affinity Trump Authority? Southern Development Knowledge and South- South Cooperation in Education.” Comparative & International Education Society, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, MA - October 2001

    “Regional Cooperation in East Asian Development” Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference. Jakarta, Indonesia – June 1996

    Languages

    Portuguese (native), English, Spanish, French.

    Intermediate Mandarin

    Currently studying Arabic