DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Interests

Research Interest(s): Global environmental politics Environmental justice Global Indigenous politics Political ecology Environment and development in Southeast Asia Qualitative methodology

Program Area(s): Methods; International Relations; Comparative Politics

Regional Specialization(s): Asia

Subfield Specialties: International Organizations and International Law

Biography

Kimberly Marion Suiseeya is an environmental social scientist with expertise in environmental justice, global environmental politics, Indigenous politics, and community-driven research. Her research examines how Indigenous communities shape and are impacted by multilateral environmental agreements like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is a Commission Member of the IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy, a Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance project, and a member of the Earth System Governance project’s Planetary Justice Taskforce. Dr. Marion Suiseeya is also an experienced policy practitioner who has worked and conducted research in Guyana, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and the US. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Sign up for office hours here.

Publications:

• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti. 2023. “Ethnography: From Method to Methodology at Plural Sites of Agreement Making.” Chapter in Studying International Environmental Agreement-Making, Eds. Hannah Hughes and Alice Vadrot. Cambridge University Press.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R., Margaret O’Connell, Edith Leoso, Marvin Shingwe Biness Neme DeFoe, Alexandra Anderson,^ Megan Bang, Pete Beckman, Anne-Marie Boyer, Jennifer Dunn, Jonathan Gilbert, Josiah Hester, Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, Philomena Kebec, Nancy Loeb, Patricia
  Loew, William M. Miller, Katie Moffitt,^ Aaron I. Packman, Michael Waasegiizhig Price, Beth Redbird, Jennie Rogers, Raj Sankaran, James Schwoch, Pam Silas, Weston Twardowski, and Nyree Zerega. 2022. “Waking from Paralysis: A Revitalized Perception of Climate Knowledge and Justice for More Effective Climate Action.” The Annals of Political Science 700(1): 166-182.
• Pickering, Jonathan, Brendan Coolsaet, Neil Dawson, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Cristina Y.A. Inoue, and Michelle Lim. 2022. “Rethinking and upholding Justice and equity in transformative biodiversity governance.” Chapter in Transforming Biodiversity Governance, Eds. Ingrid Visseren-Hamaers and Marcel Kok. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
• Hughes, Hannah, Alice M. Vadrot, Jen Iris Allan, Tracy Bach, Jennifer S. Bansard, Pamela Chasek, Noella Gray, Arne Langlet, Timo Leiter, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Beth Martin, Matthew Paterson, Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki, Harriet Thew, Marcela Vecchione Gonçalves, Yulia Yamineva. 2021. “Global environmental agreement-making: Upping the ethodological and ethical stakes of studying negotiations.” Earth System Governance 10: 10012021.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2021. “Critical Perspectives on Representation, Equity, and Rights: Developing a Comparative Politics of Environmental Justice.” Chapter in The Oxford Handbook on Comparative Environmental Politics, Eds. Erika Weinthal, Stacy VanDeveer, and Jeannie Sowers. Oxford University Press.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R., Diana K. Elhard, and Christopher J. Paul. 2021. “Towards a Relational Approach in Global Climate Governance: Exploring the Role of Trust.” WIREs Climate Change 12(4): e712.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti, with Kate Haapala. 2021. “Navigating the Spaces between Human Rights and Justice: Cultivating Indigenous Representation in Global Environmental Governance.” Journal of Peasant Studies 49(3): 604-628. DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2020.1835869
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2020. “Procedural Justice Matters: Power, Representation, and Participation in Environmental Governance.” Chapter in Environmental Justice: Key Issues, Ed. Brendan Coolsaet. Series: Routledge Key Issues in Environment and Sustainability."
• Pickering, Jonathan, Brendan Coolsaet, Neil Dawson, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Cristina Y.A. Inoue, and Michelle Lim. “Justice and equity in transformative biodiversity governance.” Chapter (invited) in Transforming Biodiversity Governance (edited by Ingrid Visseren-Hamaers and Marcel Kok). Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming.
• Zanotti, Laura and Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya. 2020. “Doing feminist collaborative event ethnography.” Journal of Political Ecology 27(1): 961-987.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2020. “Procedural Justice Matters: Power, Representation, and Participation in Environmental Governance.” Chapter (invited) in Environmental Justice: Key Issues (edited by Brendan Coolsaet). Series: Routledge Key Issues in Environment and Sustainability.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti. 2019. “Making Influence Visible: Innovating Ethnography at the Paris Climate Summit.” Global Environmental Politics 19(2): 38-60.
• Hughes, Hannah, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya and Alice B.M. Vadrot, Editors for Special Section “Methodological Innovation in the Study of Environmental Agreement-making. Global Environmental Politics 19(2).
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2017. “Contesting Justice in Global Forest Governance: the Promises and Pitfalls of REDD+.” Conservation and Society 15(2): 189-200.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2016. “Transforming Justice in REDD+ through a Politics of Difference Approach.” Forests 7(300): 1-14. Reproduced in 2018 as part of a special publication: Corbera, Esteve and Heike Schroeder (eds). REDD+ Crossroads Post Paris: Politics, Lessons and Interplays. MDPI.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2015. “Displacing Difference and the Barriers to Environmental Justice.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 3(4): 697-702. (Forum piece).
• Witter, Rebecca,* Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya,* Rebecca Gruby, Maggie Bourque, Sarah Hitchner, Ted Maclin, and Peter Brosius. 2015. “Moments of Influence in Global Environmental Governance.” Environmental Politics 24(6): 894-912.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2014. “Negotiating the Nagoya Protocol: Indigenous Demands for Justice.” Global Environmental Politics 14(3): 102-124.
• Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Susan Caplow. 2013. “In Pursuit of Procedural Justice: Lessons from an Analysis of 56 Forest Carbon Project Designs.” Global Environmental Change 23(5): 968-979.
• O'Neill, Kate, Erika Weinthal, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Steven Bernstein, Avery S. Cohn, Michael W. Stone, and Benjamin Cashore. 2013. “Methods and Global Environmental Governance.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 38(1): 441-471.

Public Engagements

• “Avoiding ‘Backdraft’ in Climate Policy – When Mitigation or Adaptation Actions Spark Conflict.” Sustain What? Podcast with Andrew Revkin, Earth Institute at Columbia University. September 30, 2022.
• “Fostering a Just Transition – Ensuring Marginalized Communities Have a Seat at the Table.” Foreign Policy Virtual Climate Summit: The Transition to Net Zero | Making Good on COP26 Commitments. April 27- 28, 2022.
• Podcast Interview, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Environmental Change and Security Program. New Security Beat Podcast: “Backdraft Episode #3: Kimberly Marion Suiseeya on Voice, Justice, and Representation.” February 24, 2017. Available online.

Honors and Awards

• Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Community Building Award, Northwestern University, Awarded 2022
• Farrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring, Northwestern University, Awarded 2018
• National Science Foundation Office of International Science and Engineering (Award No. 2330041, 09/01/23 – 08/31/25). $250,000. Dunn, Jennifer (PI), Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya (Co-PI), Guiseppe Buscarnera (Co-PI), Matthew Grayson (Co-PI), and Jean-Francois Gaillard (Co-PI). “Global Centers Track 2: SuReMin: Sustainable, resilience, responsible global minerals supply chain.”
• National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities (Award No. 2233912, 08/01/23 – 07/31/26). $2,000,000. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. (PI), Pete Beckman (Co-PI), Jonathan Gilbert (Co-PI), Josiah Hester (Co-PI), and Aaron Packman (Co-PI). “IRG-Track 1: Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations across Generations (STRONG): Sovereignty, Food, Water, and Cultural (in)Security.”
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. $50,000. (5/1/23 – 4/30/24). Dunn, Jennifer (PI) and Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya (Co-PI). “From Decarbonization to Climate Justice: A frontline community-engaged life cycle assessment of proposed mineral mines in northern Minnesota.”
• National Science Foundation Coastlines and People (Focused CoPE, Award No. 2209226, 09/01/22 – 8/31/27). $5,088,165. Hester, Josiah (PI), Pete Beckman (Co-PI), Keith Cherkaur (Co-PI), Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya (Co-PI), Crystal Ng (Co-PI), et al. “Focused CoPe: Strengthening Resilience of
  Manoomin, the Sentinel Species of the Great Lakes, with Data-Science Supported Seventh Generation Stewardship.”
• National Science Foundation Civic Innovation Challenge (SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B, Award No. 2044053, 1/15/21 – 12/31/2022). $50,000. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. (PI), John Gilbert (Co-PI), Josiah Hester (Co-PI), Aaron Packman (Co-PI), and Patricia Loew (Co-PI). “Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations across Generations (STRONG): Sovereignty, Food, Water, and Cultural (in)Security.” Film Screening."