About

Rithika Kumar is a postdoctoral visiting fellow with the Kellogg Institute whose research contributes to scholarship on gender and politics, comparative political behavior, the politics of migration and urbanization, and South Asian politics.

During her time at Kellogg, she will work to turn her dissertation into a book. “Left-Behind or Left-Ahead? Implications of Male Migration on Female Political Engagement in India” opens up a new line of inquiry for the study of gender and politics in the Global South, examining the gendered social, economic and political consequences of temporary male absence due to circular internal migration.

Kumar has published several working papers on this topic, and on the role of the household in shaping women's political engagement, political candidacy, and other political behavior in India. Her research has been supported by many fellowships and grants, including a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

She holds a PhD and MA in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in economics from the University of Mumbai.

 

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