Silja Klepp
Silja Klepp is a professor of geography at Kiel University, Germany. In her current research on climate change migration and adaptation, she integrates post-colonial perspectives and critical theories in the study of climate change effects. She has published on issues of climate justice and climate migration in Oceania, on boat people in the Mediterranean Sea and on EU refugee and border politics. She has conducted field research in Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Italy, Libya and Malta.
Biography
Silja Klepp's academic background is in Ethnology and Political Science. She has conducted field research in Kiribati, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Fiji, Italy, Libya, Malta and Zambia and is currently teaching as a professor for Human geography at the Christina-Albrechts-University of Kiel.From 1996 to 2003, Silja Klepp studied European ethnology, Italian, and political science at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Between 2006 and 2010, she did her doctorate at the International Research Training School “Critical Junctures of Globalization” Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle & University of Leipzig. The dissertation is entitled “Europa zwischen Grenzkontrolle und Flüchtlingsschutz: Eine Ethnographie der Seegrenze auf dem Mittelmeer” and was published as a book in 2011. In the same year, she joined the artec Sustainability Research Center at the University of Bremen and worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the DFG funded coastal research project INTERCOAST. Her post-doc project focused on “Climate change and mobility - new rights and resources for environmental migrants in the Pacific region”. 2012 she was appointed as a member of the young Academy of Scientists (Die Junge Akademie).
Silja Klepp is member of Rat für Migration, the cluster of excellence future ocean and of the Präsidialversammlung des Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentages. In 2018 she has joined the Heinrich Böll Foundation as an advisory board member.
Education
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PhD Social Anthropology, University of Bremen, 2010
M.A. Social Anthropology, Humboldt University Berlin, 2003
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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• Human-environment relations in maritime regions
• Social Impacts of climate change
• Environmental and climate justice
• Migration and refugees
• European borders/border studies
• Negotiation processes around coasts and seas
• EU, Mediterranean and Oceania
Personal Interests
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Travelling, family and friends. Philosophy
Websites
Academia
Academia-net
Deutsche Meeresforschung
Kiel Marine Science kms
Researchgate
Silja Klepp
Social Dynamics in Marine and Coastal Areas
Books
Articles
Climate change and migration
Published: Aug 27, 2018 by Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science.
Authors: Silja Klepp
The article illustrates the main features of the debate and presents a genealogy of the discussion on climate change and migration since the 1980s. It analyzes different framings and lines of argument, such as the securitization of the topic and connections to development studies and adaptation research. Methodological and conceptual questions, such as how to conceive inter-relations between migration and climate change, are presented...
Edited volume: A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation Discourses, Policies and Practices
Published: Mar 31, 2018 by Routledge
Authors: Silja Klepp, Libertad Chavez-Rodriguez
Subjects:
Environment and Sustainability
As a whole, the book challenges established perspectives of climate change adaptation by taking into account issues of cultural diversity, environmental justice and human rights, as well as feminist or intersectional approaches. This innovative approach allows for analyses of the new configurations of knowledge and power that are evolving in the name of climate change adaptation.
The politics of environmental migration and climate justice in the Pacific region
Published: Jul 03, 2017 by Journal of Human rights and Environment,
Authors: Klepp, Silja and Johannes Herbeck
Starting from a critical discussion of current arguments and concepts in research on the environment-migration-nexus, the article analyzes how environmental migration is discussed in the Pacific region. I