Biography

Dr. Smita Ramnarain’s (she/her/hers) research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, development, and feminist economics. Her work has focused on the gendered political economy of development in the global South, particularly in South Asia. In her work, she examines the gendered impact of economic policies and programs in contexts of economic, social, political, or environmental upheaval (war, complex emergencies, climate change, and/or agrarian crisis) and the consequences of these changes on women’s wellbeing. Her work has been published in diverse and interdisciplinary fora – such as Development and Change, Feminist Economics, Gender Pace & Culture, the Community Development Journal and the Forum for Social Economics – and in edited volumes, including the Handbook of Gender in Asia and the Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Heterodox Economics. Dr. Ramnarain uses mixed methods in her research and has carried out field work in India and Nepal. Besides principles courses ECN 201 and ECN 202, Dr. Ramnarain teaches ECN 363: Economic Growth and Development and ECN 386: Economics of Race, Gender and Class. She has mentored several motivated undergraduate students with their research projects on diverse topics such as the current role of China in African economies, on parental leave policies in Nordic countries compared to the US, and on students’ gendered attitudes towards time.