Kimberley Watt

Kimberley Watt

Kimberley Watt

Research Areas

Political Economies

Interests

China’s foreign direct investment, land governance, bauxite mining, natural resource extraction, environmental regulation, postcolonial development, South–South relations

Contact Information

kimberley_watt@berkeley.edu

Biography

I study how China’s foreign direct investment is reshaping land governance and environmental regulation in Jamaica. My work focuses on bauxite mining, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications projects, exploring how these large-scale investments affect land access, resource control and state power.

Grounded in political ecology, I examine the legal, institutional and territorial mechanisms that enable China’s investment strategies, plans and goals in Jamaica and their role in reconfiguring approaches to land and development.

Education

M.S. in China Development Studies, Geography, University of Hong Kong

B.A., Modern Languages and Literature, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica