https://rithikakumar.com/bio daily 0.75 2026-07-08 https://rithikakumar.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/6600a876-26c5-4121-9ef0-baae11403b4c/IMG_20190723_110543.jpg Fieldwork Migrants traveling to the nearest town https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163825283-2WTSMHSZG4ONB6J4J1O3/tempImageQfD5aL.jpg Fieldwork Campaign poster showing the female candidate and her husband https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163773744-2KVA25NSKUCG2P3DAR6D/tempImage8cZlUv.jpg Fieldwork Survey in progress in Raniganj, Araria https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163795693-T8Q4Z3YUI4QI1RIAYBHH/tempImagewiBeYn.jpg Fieldwork Two friends getting ready to go to the market together https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163756530-LT9I2IG871E7K5OGJWY1/tempImage2BYblt.jpg Fieldwork Taken while waiting at a Mukhiya's office for an interview in Jokihat, Araria https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1644046983947-VVVU5XSY5Y0UK1VA92V0/tempImagepoiha3.jpg Fieldwork Taken right outside our respondent's home in Araria, Bihar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/305d81df-7022-49f3-9711-bd8c9b63ff5d/tempImageyrlUas.png Fieldwork Campaign posters adorn a wall before village elections https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/d9af4f46-52ac-495c-8cac-c40a4e8360ff/IMG_2958.jpg Fieldwork Team work. Survey team in Araria, Bihar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163849560-2MRBL6UV3IPKIEKQXUNU/tempImageDaIMKY.jpg Fieldwork A dummy ballot box to educate voters which button to press in Bhargama, Araria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/0af8dd0f-7c48-4e4f-9b51-df4dc2a871c7/april_2019-07-28-21-44-43-901.jpg Fieldwork Entry way to a ward member's house in Gogunda, Rajasthan https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/50bd450e-4e7b-4b2b-b3a7-6477b49610bc/april_2019-07-28-15-14-55-907.jpg Fieldwork Gangaur Ghat entrance, Udaipur Rajasthan https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/4ecc77f9-e167-497b-9b74-dc613a73a96f/map.png Fieldwork Hand drawn map for sampling https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/51a7eff8-f007-41bb-834c-19098b785c69/IMG_20180617_184310.jpg Fieldwork Indian railways https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/c59abfe7-f065-4d87-98a2-e5e510cb2f30/IMG_20180620_105429.jpg Fieldwork Cycle with straw hats https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/d570a8d7-59c1-43f9-9441-5ea1cf33a491/IMG_20190724_172905.jpg Fieldwork Election campaign slogans https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/4306d0b9-32f7-433b-9d8b-97907dc2c7fc/IMG_20180625_144548.jpg Fieldwork Shepherd in Ganjam, Orissa https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/6eb048db-6e0f-4692-867b-29064fe0dfd4/IMG_20180628_132909_1.jpg Fieldwork View of primary school in Ganjam, Orissa https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/e932c960-3f20-4238-84a4-1dd44738a4bd/IMG_20180628_133534.jpg Fieldwork Women helping women https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163865305-TBONDK9AD5K4U600Q9B0/tempImageeS2kZB.jpg Fieldwork Workspace at Mona Hotel, Araria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/1649163882301-C8POE16CYOZVNLAP2GND/tempImageX0N2qJ.jpg Fieldwork The courtyard outside a respondent's home in Araria, Bihar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/a869505e-63e7-4092-9e52-791e944b8d99/lady_sickle.jpeg Fieldwork A woman walking home after working in the field https://rithikakumar.com/home daily 1.0 2025-05-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6022e67999e32170c156c5cc/d8d3c79a-1f64-46fc-b469-88890d2e49c0/JWF_1095.jpg Home Gender and Politics | MIGRATION | SOUTH ASIA Rithika Kumar I study how the household shapes women’s political lives: who speaks to the state, who runs for office, and who governs once elected. I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rice University. My research lies at the intersection of gender, urbanization and politics with a regional specialization on South Asia, specifically India. I ask how development processes such as economic migration and political decentralization change local political engagement by reshaping the relationship between private and public life. Much of that work treats the household, and not the individual, as the unit of political analysis. I utilize a mixed methods approach combining large scale observational and administrative data, with fieldwork intensive quantitative and qualitative data. My research has been published in the Journal of Politics and I am currently working on my book project, Silent Shifts: Male Migration and the Feminization of Politics. I received my PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023, and spent 2023–24 as a postdoctoral fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Earlier, I was a Research Associate at IDFC Institute in Mumbai, working on state capacity and electoral politics. I hold an MA in economics from the University of Mumbai and a BA in economics and statistics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. My research is generously supported by the NSF funded APSA Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, Judith Rodin Fellowship, Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) and Fox Leadership Institute. Prior to starting at Penn, I was a Research Associate at IDFC Institute, a think-tank in Mumbai. My email address is rk115@rice.edu. 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