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Nikhil Deb

Nikhil Deb
 

Assistant Professor of Sociology

Contact Information

Areas of Interest

  • Sociology of development
  • Environmental sociology
  • Global political economy
  • Agrarian change
  • Social theory
  • Resistance
  • Fieldwork

About Nikhil Deb

Nikhil Deb is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. Before this, he held similar academic positions at various institutions, including Shahjalal University in Bangladesh, his country of origin. Deb’s research examines the complex relationship between political economy and environmental and climate change in the Global South. His work specifically explores how the shift to market liberalization in the Global South has exacerbated environmental and social challenges in marginalized communities. Currently, his ongoing research in Bangladesh focuses on two main areas: (a) the exploitation of climate-induced disasters to drive economic growth, and (b) the use of greenwashing strategies by export sectors under the guise of a “just transition” following years of environmental degradation. He is in the process of developing a book proposal on this topic. Previously, Deb researched the role of neoliberal policies in Indian governance, particularly their impact on the long-lasting consequences of the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India. He plans to expand this research into a book-length project as well.

Selected Publications

Edited Volumes

 

Deb, Nikhil, Manjusha Nair, and Glenn Muschert, eds. 2025. Handbook of Social Justice in the Global South. Elgar.

 

Referred Articles and Book Chapters 

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2026. "A climate of many changes: knowledge politics of climate impacts in Bangladesh." Climate and Development 1–12.

 

Deb, Nikhil, Manjusha Nair, and Glenn W. Muschert. "Social justice in the Global South: 

Revitalizing fundamental questions." Pp. 2-12 in the Handbook of Social Justice in the Global South, edited by Deb et al. Elgar.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2024. “The Path to Neoliberalism: Investigating Bangladesh's Political Economic Transformation.” In Social Transformation in Bangladesh: Pathways, Challengesand the Way Forward, edited by Shahidur Rahman and Md. Masud-All Kamal. Routledge.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 204. “Bhopal Disaster.” In Encyclopedia of Technological Hazards and Disasters, edited by Duane A. Gill, Liesel A. Ritchie, and Nnenia Campbell. Elgar.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2024. “Unyielding Humanity from Catastrophic Ruins: New Political Society for Social and Environmental Justice after Bhopal.” Environmental Sociology 10(1):118-134.

 

Deb, Nikhil and Louise Seamster. 2023. “Socioenvironmental Injustice across the Global Divide: Slow Violence and Institutional Betrayal in Bhopal and Flint.” Sociology of Development.

 

Deb, Nikhil and Avijit Chakrabarty. 2023. “Green Potential in the Global South:  The Phulbari Movement in Neoliberal Bangladesh." In Green Crime in the Global South: Essays on Southern Green Criminology, edited by David Goyes. Palgrave.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2021.“Slow Violence and the Gas Peedit in Neoliberal India.” Social Problems 70(4):1085–1103.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2020. “Law and Corporate Malfeasance in Neoliberal India.” Critical Sociology 46(7-8): 1157–1171.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2020. “Corporate Capitalism, Environmental Damage, and the Rule of Law: The Magurchara Gas Explosion in Bangladesh.” Pp. 367-381 in the Routledge International Handbook of Green Criminology, edited by Nigel South and Avi Brisman. London: Routledge.

 

Deb, Nikhil and Maya Rao. 2020. “The Pandemic and the Invisible Poor of the Global South: Slum Dwellers in Mumbai, India, and Dhaka, Bangladesh.” Pp. 51-60, in Social Problems in the Age of COVID-19: Global Perspectives, edited by Glenn Muschert, Kristen Budd, David Lane, and Jason Smith. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

 

Deb, Nikhil. 2018. “The Fukushima Disaster and the Framing of Nuclear Energy in India.” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 17(4): 473-495.

Courses Taught

SOC 2218: International Political Economy

SOC 2222: Classical Sociological Theory

SOC 3343: Sociology of the Global South

SOC 3305: Social Movements

SOC 1110: Comparative Societies

 

Courses Taught (other institutions)

Comparative Poverty and Development

Globalization and Justice

Environmental Sociology

Marxist Sociology

Nations, Nationalism, and Ethnicity

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