Doctoral Student
Doctoral Student
Oberlin College '08
Groton School '04
Political Ecology, Transnational Land Acquisitions, Chinese rubber investments in Laos
Juliet Lu is a doctoral student at UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management with a focus on political ecology. She is advised by Dr. Nancy Lee Peluso and is a member of the Land Lab and the Graduate Student Association.
She worked from 2009-2011 at the World Agroforestry Centre in Yunnan, China and from 2012-2013 with the Centre for Development and Environment in Vientiane, Laos. During that time, she studied communal forest management, the Grain for Green Program, and agroforestry initiatives in Southwest China. She also contributed to launching the LaoDECIDE info Project, a database of foreign land investments in Laos, and co-authored a report on its central findings (see link to Schönweger et al. 2012 below).
Juliet's doctoral project examines the political economy of Chinese agribusiness companies’ investments in Laos – primarily in rubber plantations. Her broader research interests involve: the impacts of China’s growing demand for raw materials on land and resource management in Southeast Asia, the politics of resource governance and state formation in borderland regions, the rise of Chinese development cooperation initiatives, and discourses of environmental protection and sustainable development in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Lu, Juliet N. (2017). "Tapping into rubber: China’s opium replacement program and rubber production in Laos." The Journal of Peasant Studies 44 (4): 726-747. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2017.1314268?needAcc...
Lu, Juliet N., & Schönweger, O. (2019). "Great expectations: Chinese investment in Laos and the myth of empty land." Territory, Politics, Governance. 1-18. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21622671.2017.1360195
Lu, Juliet N. (2020). "Grounding Chinese investment: encounters between Chinese capital and local land politics in Laos." Globalizations. 1-19. https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1...
Schönweger, O., Heinimann, A., Epprecht, M., Lu, J., & Thalongsengchanh, P. (2012). "Concessions and leases in the Lao PDR: Taking stock of land investments." Geographica Bernensis, Vientiane, Laos & Bern, Switzerland.
Profiled in the Stimson Center's "America Matters to the Mekong" (2020)
Liu Graduate Research Fellowships in Chinese Studies (2018-19)
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellow (2017)
John L. Simpson Memorial Research Fellowship in International and Comparative Studies (2016-17)
Pamela and Kenneth Fong Graduate Student Fellowship (2015-2016; 2016-17)
Koo Chair Fellowship for Outsanding Graduate Students in EAS (2016-17)
UC Berkeley Chancellor's Fellowship for Graduate Study
BRICS Initiative in Critical Agrarian Studies Small Grant Recipient (2014)
ESPM C10: Environmental Issues (Spring 2020)
ESPM 168: Political Ecology (Fall 2015, Spring 2018)
Where There Be Dragons Custom Course Instructor (Summer 2015, 2016)
In September 2020 I am honored to be joining the Atkinson Sustainability Center at Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Researcher
Outreach & Communication
Co-Host of the Belt & Road Podcast, and Feb 2019 Interview, "Chinese 'Land Grabs' in Laos"
Juliet Lu & Wanjing (Kelly) Chen. (March 2020) "How the Chinese Diaspora is Changing Laos." Los Angeles Review of Books: China Channel.
Juliet Lu & Wanjing (Kelly) Chen. (December 2019) "From Pioneers to Brokers: How a diverse Chinese diaspora facilitates the Belt and Road in Lao." Panda Paw, Dragon Claw Blog
KALX Berkeley Radio Interview, "Political Ecology in China and Laos"
Cecilie Friis, Juliet Lu, et al. (November 2019) "Crop booms: What we know about smallholder involvement ... and why it matters." New Mandala Blog
Find me on Twitter @_JulietLu
Hobbies & University Service
ESPM Intramural Ultimate Frisbee Team
ESPM Graduate Programs Committee (2015-2016)
ESPM Graduate Student Assembly (2014-Present)
Center for Chinese Studies Graduate Student Liaison (2014-2015)
Contact details
Juliet Lu
UC Berkeley
130 Mulford Hall #3114
Berkeley, CA 94720