Dean Chahim

Chahim’s itinerary takes him to countries that have historically experimented with a variety of development paths different from the West. He hopes to appreciate one of the greatest modern ironies: ignorance in the global North of alternative definitions of development that transcend economics. He wants to challenge himself to begin to see the world in the multitude of ways people in the “developing” world do – and understand the world as they imagine it could be.

Alumni Reflections

How did the Bonderman impact your life?

“In short, I discovered that I loved listening to and documenting people’s stories from all walks of life. And then I realized that this was actually something I could do for the rest of my life as an anthropologist.”

What are you doing now?

“I’m a professor of environmental studies – I was trained as an anthropologist and now research and teach about environmental justice and disasters, with an emphasis on Mexico.”