Home>Manisha Anantharaman
Manisha Anantharaman
Assistant Professor, HDR
Centre for the Sociology of Organisations (CSO)
Research Interest(s): Consumption, Environment, Cities/Metropolies/Territories, Collective Mobilisations, Inequality and Discrimination, Well-being
Discipline(s): Sociology
Research Group(s): Public Policy and Transformations of the State; Work, Employment and Professions; Governance and Economic Organisations
Biography
Manisha Anantharaman’s research connects social inequalities and environmental governance. Situated at the intersection of economic and cultural sociology, global political economy, and urban studies, she examines how economic and political ideologies, socio-cultural identities, and power relations shape ecological transitions 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 collaborative projects across the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Her publications include two books: Recycling Class: The contradictions of inclusion in urban sustainability (MIT Press, 2024) 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.
Education
2024 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
Teaching
Sciences Po:
- Global Sociological Debates, Cours Magistral, Sociology, Le Havre campus
- Qualitative Methods for Urban Studies, Masters in Governing the Large Metropolis M1, Ecole d'Urbain
- Sociology of the Environment, Masters in Sociology M1, Ecole des Recherches
- Environmental Justice in Global Perspective, Seminaire, collège universitaire, 2e année, Paris.
AWARDS
HONORS AND AWARDS
2025 Sociology of Development Book Award (Honorable Mention) for Recycling Class, American Sociological Association
2025 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
2019 Sustainable Consumption Institute Professorial Fellow, University of Manchester
2019 Alba Viotto Invited Professorship, Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva
2020 Early Career Scholarship and Service Award, Saint Mary’s College of California
2016 Early Career Scholar Paper Award, Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI)
2014 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, UC Berkeley
2014 Best Graduate Student Paper, Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS)
GRANTS, CONTRACTS AND SPONSORED RESEARCH
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
2023-25
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 program, $14,000
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
2019-20
Academic Growth and Innovation Fund, Saint Mary’s College, $23,000 (for the development of a graduate certificate in Sustainability), PI
publications
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Anantharaman, M. (2025) Infrastructural contact zones: Innovation in urban interstices. Territory, Politics and Governance. 1-17.
- Anantharaman, M., Priya Uteng, T., Henderson, J., Sadoway, D., & Gopakumar, G. (2025). Putting the car in context: a call for a situated technopolitical transition in global automobilities. Mobilities, 1-18.
- Anantharaman, M. (2024) Recycling Class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability, MIT Press.
- Anantharaman, M., Sahakian, M., Saloma, C. (2023). Spatialising degrowth in Southern cities: Everyday park-making for (un)commoning, Urban Studies, 60(7), 1266–1284.
- 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.
- 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.