Dr. Raka Ray

Biography

Raka Ray is a Professor and Dean of the Social Sciences at UC Berkeley's Sociology Department. Her research interests include Gender, postcolonial sociology, emerging middle classes, South Asia, inequality, qualitative research methods, and social movements. She has contributed significantly to understanding social movements in India, arguing that the differences in women’s movements in Indian cities like Kolkata and Mumbai are shaped by the political fields in which they are situated. Her co-edited work, 'Social Movements in India', highlights the formation of social movements in post-Nehruvian India. In 'Cultures of Servitude', co-authored with Seemin Qayum, she explores how class and gendered inequalities are produced and reproduced within the domestic sphere. Additionally, her forthcoming project examines gender mobility in the context of neoliberal economies, with a focus on urban centers like Mumbai, Allahabad, and Siliguri. Ray also emphasizes pedagogy, having co-written 'Social Life of Gender', which proposes innovative teaching approaches to the sociology of gender in contemporary India.

Research Interests