Dr. Christopher Coley currently serves as Assistant Professor at Department of Social Sciences, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Amritapuri
Originally from USA, Christopher has been in India with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham since 2011. He completed his BA in Philosophy & BS in Psychology from Seattle University, and an MA in Applied Ethics, Philosophy from Colorado State University. Inspired by Amma’s spiritual teachings and international humanitarian projects, he came to India to pursue such work. He is presently a PhD Student at the Center for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at Amrita working on the area of gender dynamics in and the study of Women Empowerment interventions. Since joining Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Christopher has been a part of the research and project management team with AMMACHI Labs in their previous skill development projects in villages across India. He is also an accomplished swimmer and enjoys singing and music in addition to immersion studies and classic literature.
Sustainable Development, Gender Equality, Transformation and Social Change Theories, Education Technologies, and Implementation Sciences. Specifically in Gender Equality, he has a deep interest in exploring the connections between a man’s reaction to women’s empowerment programs and his response to the shift in power dynamics that accompanies women empowerment as a potential source of aid or conflict for WE projects. Instances of violence, conflict, or lack of project sustainability often follow WE projects because of male resistance. In light of this, it is important to study what the factors are (cultural, psychological, value, situational, etc.) that contribute to Indian men’s response to WE programs in rural India.