Peter Sutoris

Imagination of alternative futures, the multiple meanings of the Anthropocene, and human creativity in the face of environmental destruction fascinate me. I am an anthropologist who studies how different societies imagine the future differently. I’ve written two books, Visions of Development (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Educating for the Anthropocene (The MIT Press, 2022), and am currently working on a new book project about how humanity might be able to imagine its path to survival through the unfolding environmental multi-crisis.

I joined the School of Earth and Environment as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in January 2024, having been previously held the post of Assistant Professor in Social Justice and Education at the University of York; prior to that, I was affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London, and with the Faculty of Education and Society at University College London. I studied at Dartmouth College, USA and the University of Cambridge, where I completed my doctorate as a Gates Scholar in 2019. Aside from my academic career, I have consulted widely on international development projects in Asia and Africa and have an extensive background in policy research. Much of my work has focussed on India, Nepal and South Africa, and I’ve also worked in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the Marshall Islands, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.