Tara van Dijk is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam Institute of Metropolitan and International Development Studies within the Graduate School of Social Sciences.  She was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and received her Bachelors degree in Sociology from Southern Oregon University, U.S.A  with minors in Women’s Studies and American Literature Studies.  Before obtaining her Masters in Human Geography from the University of Amsterdam she worked in South Korea, China and the Gaza Strip.  Her PhD work is on “Unpacking Inequalities in Indian Cities:  Issues of Privilege, Exclusion and Adverse Incorporation. “  In particular, she is focused on forming a critical realist livelihoods approach to better distinguish between agential and structural aspects of different urban livelihoods.