Poulomi Chakrabarti

Poulomi Chakrabarti is a comparativist with a regional focus on India. Her research brings together major debates in the fields of political economy of development and identity politics. Specifically, she is motivated by two overarching questions: one, "what is the relationship between identity politics and development in multiethnic democracies?", and two, "how does the nature of class politics transform in rapidly urbanizing societies?". Poulomi employs a number of methodological approaches, including statistical analysis and survey experiments, ethnography, elite-interviews, and comparative historical analysis to explore these questions at both the macro and micro levels in India. Her research has received support from the International Growth Center, American Institute of India Studies, Smith Richardson Foundation, Tobin Project, Oxford University, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIT, IDS Sussex, the Library of Congress, and various centers at Brown University. Poulomi also holds a masters degree in international development from MIT and an undergraduate degree in urban planning from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. She has also consulted for the World Bank and the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.