Yuka Suzuki - K. Sivaramakrishnan Reflection

I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect back on how Shivi has supported and mentored me at various stages in my career—and how much of an impact this has had on my life. When I was a graduate student at Yale many years ago, Shivi was the first person to introduce me to political ecology, which has defined my research and teaching ever since. Shivi’s Political Ecology seminar also opened my eyes to the promise of interdisciplinary thinking, which had never been laid out for me quite as clearly in tracing the development and emergence of a new field. Shivi constructed his syllabus with amazing attentiveness to different genealogical threads, key thinkers, critiques, and paradigm shifts. When I taught my own version of Political Ecology for the first time several years later, I remember referring back to Shivi’s syllabus and my notes from the class. My experience in this seminar shaped how I approach introducing a new field or topic to my own students. 

When I returned to Yale as an Agrarian Studies fellow a decade later, Shivi was at the very heart of the community, bringing together faculty, graduate students, and postdocs under an ethos of intellectual generosity and expansiveness. The very air of the seminar room where the Agrarian Studies colloquia took place felt different the moment one walked in. Shivi was deft and incisive in moderating these discussions, but also incredibly kind, with a firmness that made it clear that this was not a space of posturing or performance, but rather one of genuine collaboration and exchange. The remarkable intellectual community that Shivi inspired had a profound impact on each and every person who came through Agrarian Studies. 

Finally, I am indebted to Shivi for including my book in his wonderful Culture, Place, and Nature series at the University of Washington Press. I am not sure the book would have been published had it not been for Shivi’s staunch support and unfailing kindness from beginning to end in this process. I recently met an anthropologist based in Australia whose eyes lit up when she realized I knew Shivi. ‘He writes the best prefaces!’ she exclaimed. And indeed, the prefaces that Shivi provides at the beginning of each book in this series are a gift: elegantly and concisely situating the work within a particular genealogy, laying out the stakes, and carefully and generously identifying its contributions to the field. I see these prefaces as an embodiment of the qualities that make Shivi such a beloved mentor and colleague: grace, wisdom, and astonishing brilliance always. Thank you for your support and mentorship across so many years, Shivi, and congratulations on your retirement!