Glenda Dickerson Collegiate Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan
About
Leela Fernandes is the Glenda Dickerson Collegiate Professor of women's studies and professor of political science at the University of Michigan. She is the author of India's New Middle Class: Democratic Politics in an Era of Economic Reform; Transnational Feminism in the United States; Producing Workers: The Politics of Gender, Class and Culture in the Calcutta Jute Mills and Transforming Feminist Practice. Her current research is focused on the post-liberalization state in India.
Current Work:
Dr. Fernandes's current research focuses on the ways in which policies of economic restructuring and reform in late industrializing countries have created a paradoxical environment for the state. On the one hand, such policies have sought to reduce the state's role in the management of the economy through specific policies of public disinvestment and deregulation. On the other hand, shifting global norms of international financial institutions have emphasized the need for reforms that can produce regulatory frameworks and a stable institutional environment necessary for economic growth and private investment. She is writing a book that examines how the state responds to such contradictory pressures through an examination of the governance over water resources in contemporary India.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Inequality, gender, India, feminism, political economy
