Chyna is a PhD researcher in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia. Her research explores community water governance in relation to climate and political-economic change, with a particular focus on processes of water sharing among the acequias (communal irrigation ditches) of northern New Mexico. This research includes exploration into how water sharing practices influence individual and communal responses to change, while attending to the impact of water rights privatization on traditional water use and adaptation. Her fieldwork research incorporates hydrosocial theory, ethnographic methodologies, and the embodied experiences of female irrigators. Inquiries are informed by the fields of water governance, feminist and critical political ecology, and resiliency studies.
Prior to joining the University of East Anglia, Chyna served as the Director of the Working Lands Resiliency Initiative in Taos, New Mexico, conducting downscaled climate modeling as well as participatory vulnerability and capacity assessments with local irrigators and agriculturalists in northern New Mexico.
Chyna holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy and a BA (hons) in Political Science, both from Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts).