Peter Klein

Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental and Urban Studies; Director, Sociology Program

Academic Program Affiliation(s): Environmental Studies, Global and International Studies, Sociology

Biography: Professor Peter Klein’s teaching and research focus on urban studies, environmental sociology, globalization and development, political sociology, and qualitative methods. He is engaged in research and community-based projects in both the United States and Brazil.

Professor Klein’s research in Brazil focuses on public participation, urban and environmental change, and collective action in both Amazonia and Rio de Janeiro. His award-winning book manuscript, Flooded: Development, Democracy, and Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam (Rutgers University Press, 2022), provides an ethnographic account of the societal effects of the state’s attempt to mitigate the negative impacts of one of the world’s largest hydroelectric facilities with extensive social and economic resources.

Professor Klein continues to carry out research in the Brazilian Amazon, and his work extends to Rio de Janeiro. Currently, he is using ethnography, archival work, interviews, oral histories, and participatory action methods to explore the history and contemporary struggles of the fishers of Complexo da Maré, the largest conglomeration of favelas in Rio. His project, “The Favela and the Sea: Fishing, Urbanization, and Environmental (In)Justice,” is supported by a Fulbright Scholar Award and a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society. He also engages with scholars, activists, and artists based in the city and the Global North, in efforts to reframe stigmatized understandings of Rio’s favelas, carry out research on environmental inequality, democratize academia, and rethink how knowledge is produced. Since 2019, Professor Klein has been doing much of this work through Maré from the Inside, a visual and textual exhibit.

Professor Klein also engages in teaching- and community-based participatory research and engagement in the United States on civic participation, environmental inequality, and housing insecurity. He cares deeply about student engagement in the world beyond the classroom, so that they can see the value of the ideas they learn in courses and apply them to civic and political work that matters to them. Through his courses and special projects, he works with students to actively participate in efforts in local communities, particularly the city of Kingston, that address environmental, housing, and other social justice issues. 

Professor Klein’s published work appears in the Journal of Peasant Studies, Latin American Research Review, and American Journal of Sociology, among other academic journals. He is also coauthor of The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life (2014).
Phone: 845-758-7218
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Location: Seymour
Office: 306