ABOUT
AGHAGHIA
INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR ROOTED IN WESTERN HIMALAYA
CULTURAL IMMERSION AND EDUCATIONAL TOUR GUIDE IN THE HIMALAYA
With deep connections to the Kinnauri people since 2010, Aghaghia Rahimzadeh explores the rapid socio-environmental changes occurring in the Kinnaur region of the Indian Himalaya.
Her mission: to utilize her understanding of human-environment interactions, social implications of climate change and adaptation in Kinnaur, and ultimately, draw lessons for how mountain regions in general could successfully adapt to change and enhance their resiliency.
BIO
Dr. Aghaghia Rahimzadeh is a two-time Fulbright Fellow with a doctorate in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been working in the area of human-environmental interactions for over two decades. Since 2010, Dr Rahimzadeh has been conducting research in remote mountain communities in the district of Kinnaur in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in Western Himalaya. Her longitudinal work has included ethnographic and ethnohistorical research on environmental and social change in Kinnaur. Specifically, she investigates the rapidly unfolding social implications of climate change, dilapidated development, and unregulated mass tourism to understand how the region confronts these issues on its resource base. Additionally, one of her recent projects in collaboration with a local Kinnauri master weaver focuses on the documentation and preservation of traditional Kinnauri weaving designs.
​
Aghaghia has traveled widely through the Middle East, Central, and South Asia. In addition to her academic research, Aghaghia has significant experience in the field of international and sustainable development. She has worked and conducted research with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) on community conservation projects in Iran, served on the Secretariat of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP), worked with the UN Development Program and the UN Development Fund for Women in Tajikistan, and delivered medical supplies to Afghanistan.
​
Dr. Rahimzadeh is the co-founder of the Himalayan Conservation and Preservation Society. She is currently a fellow/scholar-advisor at the Black Earth Institute. As an independent scholar, Aghaghia is affiliated with the Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, and the National Coalition of Independent Scholars. Her publications have appeared in Anthropology Now!, Terrain.org, About Place Journal, World Development Perspectives, Land Use Policy, Conservation and Society, Human Ecology, and Newfound.
​
When she is not researching or writing, Aghaghia guides educational and cultural immersion tours to the Himalaya, enjoys photography, practices Iyengar Yoga, backpacks the California wilderness, and hikes the trails of beloved Mt. Tamalpais.
