Leila M. Harris
Professor, IRES
Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Contact Details
Bio
Dr. Leila M. Harris is a Professor at the Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability (IRES) and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British Columbia. She also serves as Co-Director for UBC’s Program on Water Governance, is a member of the EDGES research collaborative (Environment and Development: Gender, Equity, and Sustainability Perspectives), and is an Associate of the Department of Geography, and the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC.
Harris’s work examines social, cultural, political-economic, institutional and equity dimensions of environmental and resource issues. Her current research focuses on the intersection of environmental issues and inequality / social difference, water governance shifts (e.g. marketization, participatory governance), in addition to conducting a multi-sited analysis of the non-material dimensions of water insecurity, highlighting themes such as emotions, trust, senses of belonging and state legitimacy (e.g. South Africa, Brazil, and Canada). Harris also served as principal investigator for the SSHRC-funded International WaTERS Research and Training Network focused on water governance, equity and resilience in the Global South.
Projects
Beyond Access: Comparative Analysis of Non-material Dimensions of Water Insecurities Current
Awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant, this research project has three goals. First, it advances conceptualization and empirical evidence for non-material elements of water insecurity. Second, it examines theoretical and empirical linkages between household water (in)security and citizen engagement and participation across case study sites (e.g. South Africa, Brazil, Canada). Third, it develops and extends narrative, visual, and comparative methods for water insecurity studies. This project will contribute to our understanding of meanings and experiences of water insecurity and how these impinge on engagement and other key features of water governance. Team members: Dr. Leila Harris, Dacotah Splichalova, Dr. Wendy Jepson, Dr. Shannon Walsh, and Dr. Mary Galvin.
Evolving Sites and Scales of Environmental Governance Current
Over the past decade, I have been conducting a comparative investigation of changing scales and sites of environmental governance, with focus on water management and institutions, and also lived experience of governance changes, notably in the daily lives of women and marginalized community members in different locations.
Water Governance in Accra and Cape Town: Access, Citizenship, and Narrative Completed
From 2012-onwards, I have worked with other members of the EDGES research collaborative to investigate the lived realities of water governance changes for marginalized residents, notably in underserved settlements in Cape Town, South Africa and Accra Ghana.
Water Governance dimensions of Emergent Watershed Metagenomics Technologies Completed
Working with a large collaborative team led by P. Tang and J. Isaac Renton at the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Centers for Disease Control, this project investigated key water governance questions in relation to possibilities for novel water testing for human and ecosystem health using eco-genomics (or metagenomics) technology.
Water Quality and Governance for First Nations, particularly in British Columbia Completed
Research on this theme includes focus on water quality monitoring and governance capacity in BC First Nation communities, as well as a host of issues important to include first nations water security.
Socio-spatial dimensions of Environmental Politics and Activism in Contemporary Turkey Completed
Drawing on focus groups and interviews conducted at four sites (Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakir, and Sanliurfa), this research engaged everyday citizen narratives of environmental politics and meanings in contemporary Turkey.
Developmental and Environmental Change in Southeastern Turkey Completed
This long-term research effort (beginning in 2001) considers questions of: a) state theory and shifting political subjectivities in relation to developmental and environmental change associated with large-scale transformation of the upper Tigris-Euphrates basin as part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP); b) narratives of environmental change and implications for sustainability studies; c) issues of social difference, specifically gender and ethnicity, as impetus for, and effects of, state-led development in the Southeastern Anatolia region.
Featured Publications
Shah, S. L.M Harris, et al. (2023). Variations in household water affordability and water insecurity: an intersectional perspectives from 18 low-and middle-income countries. Environment and Planning F. Open access available here.
Boelens, R., Escobar, A., Bakker, K., Hommes, L., Swyngedouw, E., Hogenboom, B., Hujibens, E.H., Jackson, S., Vos, J., Harris, L.M., Joy, K.J., de Castro, F., Duarte-Abadía, B., Tubino de Souza, D., Lotz-Sisitka, H., Hernández-Mora, N., Martínez-Alier, J., Roca-Servat, D., Perreault, T., Sanchis-Ibor, C., Suhardiman, D., Ulloa, A., Wals, A., Hoogestegar, J., Hidalgo-Bastidas, J.P., Roa-Avendaño, T., Veldwisch, G.J., Woodhouse, P., & Wantzen, K.M. (2022). Riverhood: political ecologies of socionature commoning and translocal struggles for water justice, The Journal of Peasant Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2120910. Open access to publication available here.
Harris, L.M. (2022). Learning from Aotearoa: Water governance challenges and debates. New Zealand Geographer. https://doi/org/10.1111/nzg.12334. Subscription access to publication available here.
Sengupta, M., & Harris, L.M. (2022). Interrogating differences: intersectionality and participatory livelihood development in the upland forest of Tripura (Northeast India). Geoforum 133, 59-68. https://doi.org/10/1016/j.geoforum.2022.02.002. Subscription access to paper available here.
Tremblay, C. & Harris, L.M. (2022). Water governance in two urban African contexts: agency and action through participatory video. Research for All, 6(1). DOI: 10.14324/RFA.06.1.04. Open access to paper available here.
Shah, S. H., & Harris, L. M. (2022). Beyond Local Case Studies in Political Ecology: Spatializing Agricultural Water Infrastructure in Maharashtra Using a Critical, Multimethods, and Multiscalar Approach. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(4), 988–1007. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.1941746 Open access to paper available here.
Harris, L. M. (2021) Towards narrative political ecologies. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211010677. Subscription access to paper available here. Open access available here.
Özerol G., Harris L.M. (2020). Gender-Sensitive Analysis of Water Governance: Insights for Engendering Energy Transitions. In: Clancy J., Özerol G., Mohlakoana N., Feenstra M., Sol Cueva L. (eds) Engendering the Energy Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Subscription access to publication available here.
McDowell, G., Harris, L., Koppes, M. et al. (2020). “From needs to actions: Prospects for planned adaptations in high mountain communities“. Climatic Change 163: 953-972. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02920-1. Open access to publication available here.
Meehan, K., Jepson, W., Harris, L.M., et al. “Exposing the myths of household water insecurity in the global north: A critical review”. WIREs Water. 2020; 7:e1486. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1486. Open access to publication available here.
Harris, L. M., Staddon, C., Wutich, A., Budds, J., Jepson, W., Pearson, A. L., & Adams, E. A. (2020). Water sharing and the right to water: Refusal, rebellion and everyday resistance. Political Geography, 102245. Subscription access to publication available here.
Campero, C., Rodriguez, A., Harris, L and Kunz, N. (2019). APEC Women’s Participation in the Mining Industry. APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy. APEC. Open access to publication available here.
Jepson, W., Wutich, A., & Harris, L. (2019). Water-security capabilities and the human right to water. In. F. Sultana & A. Loftus (Eds.), Water Politics: Governance, justice and the right to water. Routledge. Subscription access to publication available here.
Brisbois, B.W., Spiegel, J.M., & Harris, L. (2019). Health, environment and colonial legacies: Situating the science of pesticides, bananas and bodies in Ecuador. Social Science & Medicine, 239, 112529. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112529. Open access to publication available here.
Harris, L.M., Shah, S.H., Wilson, N.J. and J. Nelson (Eds). (2019). Special Issue “Water Governance: Retheorizing Politics.” Water 11. Open access to publication available here.
Harris, L.M. (2019). Assessing states: Water service delivery and evolving state-society relations in Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654419859365. Shareable version of publication available here.