Yu-Chen Chuang

​I am a human-environment geographer with a research focus on the confluence of political ecology, decolonial geographies, and science and technology studies. Broadly, I’m interested in the relationship between environmental governance and settler-colonialism: How does the environment become legible and governable? How are the practices of environmental governance intertwined with settler-colonialism and in turn shape dominant views of nature? How does the colonial regime of environmental governance continue generating inequalities and injustices? 

My research interests have emerged through my multidisciplinary academic trajectory encompassing anthropology, political science, and planning, as well as my experience working as a policy researcher on Indigenous land justice in Taiwan. I attained my MA and BA degrees in Anthropology from National Taiwan University, where I conducted an ethnographic research project on urban Indigenous peoples for my thesis. Subsequently, my research experience at Taiwan’s Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee further deepened my comprehension of the historical trajectory of Indigenous land dispossession. Prior to studying at Penn State, I received an MSc degree in Planning from the University of Toronto, specializing in environmental planning and studies.