Talk:Leesa Fawcett

By Sachi Anjunkar

Leesa K Fawcett is Graduate Program Director in Environmental Studies, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University as of September 2022. According to her university profile, her research interests include animal studies, environmental education and philosophy, biological conservation and natural history, political ecology, experiential education and indigenous knowledges, feminist science and technology studies, food Sovereignty and sustainability.

Note - she has edited (with two other editors) a book titled "Political Ecology: Global and Local." The book has several references to India. However, she hasn't contributed any chapter or particularly produced any scholarly work on India. https://www.academia.edu/66421596/Political_Ecology_Global_and_Local?from_sitemaps=true&version=2

As per her bio, she has published no books, papers or research pertaining to Hindus, rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva or the Indian Government.

In 2021, she along with Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, co-signed a letter supporting "Dismantling Global Hindutva" Conference, as an academic and scholar and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Edited Book

Bell, David, Leesa Fawcett, Roger Keil, and Peter Penz, eds. Political Ecology: Global and Local. 1st ed., Routledge, 1998.