Manisha Anantharaman

Manisha Anantharaman studies the everyday political economy of ecological transitions, examining how green projects redistribute work, status, and space along lines of class, caste, and gender. Situated at the intersection of economic and cultural sociology, global political economy, and urban studies, her work traces how economic and political ideologies, socio-cultural identities, and power relations shape environmental governance across multiple scales, from households and cities to the transnational milieu. Her research approaches are comparative and ethnographic, drawing on long-term fieldwork in India and the United States and collaborative projects across Europe and Southeast Asia.

Her publications include two books: Recycling Class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability (MIT Press, 2024), which received Book Award Honorable Mentions from the American Sociological Association and the International Studies Association, and The Circular Economy and the Global South (Routledge, 2019). She is an Associate Editor of Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (UC Press) and Consumption & Society (BUP) and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House's Environment and Society Programme.

• For more on her research and teaching: manishaanantharaman.com
• ad her interview

Education

2023      Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR), Sociology, Sciences Po 

2015      Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy & Management

2008      M.Sc., University of Oxford (Distinction), Integrative Biosciences

2007      B.Sc., University of Madras (Honors), Plant Biology

• Circular market-makers. A comparative study of the start-ups, NGOs, consultants, and global organizations intermediating between EU brands and the largely informal recycling sectors of the Global South, examining how they define compliance, enact traceability, and compute value. 
• Digital Infrastructures for Sustainable Consumption (DISCo). Belmont Forum and US National Science Foundation, 2023–2027. Work package lead on mapping digital provisioning platforms and their political-economic effects across five countries, and coordination for ethnographic fieldwork in the United States.
• The Elgar Companion on Circular Economy and the Sustainable Development Goals, co-edited with Patrick Schroeder, Jack Barrie, and Muyiwa Oyinlola. Edward Elgar, expected 2026.

Sciences Po:

• Global Sociological Debates, Cours Magistral, Sociology, Le Havre campus
• Qualitative Methods for Urban Studies, Masters in Governing the Large Metropolis M1, École urbaine
• Interdisciplinary Reading Seminar, Masters in Ecological Transition, Risks and Governance M1, Paris Climate School 
• Sociology of the Environment, Masters in Sociology M1, École de la recherche
• Environmental Justice in Global Perspective, Séminaire, Collège universitaire, 2e année, Paris

HONORS AND AWARDS

2026 Environmental Sociology Outstanding Publication Award (Honorable Mention) for Recycling Class, American Sociological Association

2025 Sociology of Development Book Award (Honorable Mention) for Recycling Class, American Sociological Association

2024 Global Development Studies Book Award (Honorable Mention) for Recycling Class, International Studies Association

2023 Outstanding Scholar Award, Saint Mary’s College of California

2021 Pandemic Pedagogic Excellence Award, Saint Mary’s College of California

2021 Commissioner, Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Sustainable Behavior Change

2020 Early Career Scholarship and Service Award, Saint Mary’s College of California

2019 Sustainable Consumption Institute Professorial Fellow, University of Manchester

2019 Alba Viotto Invited Professorship, Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva

2016 Early Career Scholar Paper Award, Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI)

GRANTS, CONTRACTS AND SPONSORED RESEARCH

2026-27 Sciences Po-UPCité collaborative research call,  Territorial Ecological Debt: A Collaborative Framework for Analysing the Social Reproduction of Environmental Protection,  €75,000,

2024-25 Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d’évaluation des politiques publiques (LIEPP), Sciences Po, Policies for Sustainable Consumption and Sufficiency: Justice, Effectiveness and Instrumentation, €10,000, Co-PI

2023-27 Future Earth Belmont Forum and US National Science Foundation, Digital infrastructure for sustainable consumption: Reorganizing food and mobility consumption, €1.3 million, Co-PI and US lead

2022-23 Saint Mary’s College Provost’s Faculty Research Grant, Towards inclusive circular economies: environmental services in global resource flows, $9,800, PI

2021-22 Consulting fellow, Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs), Energy, Environment and Resources programme, $14,000

2019-20 Academic Growth and Innovation Fund, Saint Mary’s College, $23,000 (development of a graduate certificate in Sustainability), PI

2018-20 Swiss Network for International Studies, Green public spaces and sustainable cities in South and Southeast Asia: Integrating needs and societal wellbeing, $150,000, Co-PI

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• Anantharaman, M. (2024) Recycling Class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability, MIT Press. Open access.
• Schroeder, P., Anantharaman, M., Anggraeni, K., Foxon, T., eds. (2019) The Circular Economy and the Global South: Sustainable Lifestyles and Green Industrial Development. Routledge UK.

Articles

• Anantharaman, M., & Dubuisson-Quellier, S. (2026) Market inequalities and ecological distinction: the moral ruses of sustainable consumption across the North–South divide. Sociologica, 20(2), 63–84. [Special Symposium on Conspicuous Sustainability]. Open access.
• Anantharaman, M. (2025) Infrastructural contact zones: innovation in urban interstices. Territory, Politics and Governance, 1–17.
• Anantharaman, M., Sahakian, M., & Saloma, C. (2023) Spatialising degrowth in Southern cities: everyday park-making for (un)commoning. Urban Studies, 60(7), 1266–1284. Open access. 
• Anantharaman, M. (2022) Is it sustainable consumption or performative environmentalism? Consumption and Society, 1(1), 120–143. 
• Tucker, J. L., & Anantharaman, M. (2020) Informal work and sustainable cities: from formalization to reparation. One Earth, 3(3), 290–299. Open access.
• Anantharaman, M. (2017) Elite and ethical: the defensive distinctions of middle-class bicycling in Bangalore, India. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(3), 864–886.

See full list on Google Scholar.