Thomas Ponniah

Dr.Thomas Ponniah was born in India, raised in Montreal, Canada, did his doctoral research in Brazil and has lived in the USA since 1997. He is married to Kendra Fehrer Ponniah. He is a Lecturer on Social Studies at Harvard University.

He is the co-editor (with William F. Fisher) of Another World is Possible: popular alternatives to globalization at the World Social Forum as well as one of the co-authors of Unholy Trinity: the IMF, World Bank and WTO. He is currently finishing another book on the World Social Forum as well as co-editing the volume The Revolution in Venezuela (Duke University Press 2008).

Thomas Ponniah's doctoral dissertation focused on globalization, development, social theory and social movements and was completed in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University in Massachusetts.

He was recently awarded Harvard University's Barrington Moore Prize for Advising Excellence in Social Studies. As well he has been awarded a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching each year that he has taught at Harvard.

Education
Thomas obtained a B.A. in 1988 from the Liberal Arts College of Concordia University, Canada.

He then obtained a Master of Social Science in 1992 from the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, England. His masters thesis focused on postcolonial theory and his advisor was Richard Johnson, former director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham. He also obtained a in Comparative Literature, from ] in . His M.A. thesis adviser was Bruce Robbins.

He obtained his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Geography of ] in . His dissertation focused on globalization, development, social movements and social theory. His doctoral committee members were Richard Peet, William Fisher, Robers J.S. Ross, Yuko Aoyama and Jody Emel.

Bibliography

BOOKS AND ARTICLES

Dissertation: “The World Social Forum Theory of Development”: civil society proposals for an alternative globalization”

Ponniah, Thomas. 2006. “World Social Forum Visions” in Inside Outside: Past and Future of the Anti-Globalization Movement . Edited by Francine Mestrum and Donald Weber.

(------.) 2005. “Autonomy and Political Strategy: building the other superpower”. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 29 (2):441-443.

(------.) 2004. “Democracy vs. Empire: Alternatives to Globalization Presented at the World Social Forum”. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography . 36 (1):130-133.

Ponniah, Thomas and William F. Fisher. “The World Social Forum, or, the Reinvention of Democracy”. In Another World is Possible: popular alternatives to globalization at the World Social Forum . 2003 London: Zed Books.

Fisher, William F. and Thomas Ponniah. Editors, Another World is Possible: popular alternatives to globalization at the World Social Forum . 2003 London: Zed Books.

Peet, Richard with Thomas Ponniah et al. 2003. Unholy Trinity: The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. London: Zed Books.

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