Dr. Rebecca Bowers

Biography

Rebecca Bowers is a feminist economic anthropologist whose research interests include gendered inter-generational experiences of inequality, financialization, labor informality, and labor organization. She conducted fieldwork in India between 2014 and 2017 and utilized digital ethnography during the Covid-19 outbreak in London. Her doctoral thesis, 'Gendered Economies of Extraction,' explored how real estate speculation shapes intersecting forms of inequality for migrant female construction workers in Bengaluru, known as India's Silicon Valley. In her role at the London School of Economics (LSE), she has taught Economic Anthropology and Professional Development, addressing the urgent research needs arising from escalating inequalities during the pandemic. Her work has involved qualitative research on the effects of government responses on vulnerable populations in both the UK and India. A member of the Covid Care research group at LSE, Rebecca has collaborated with community organizations and citizen scientists to highlight the crucial role household informal networks of care played during the pandemic. The group's findings have emphasized the importance of these care networks in shaping policy proposals for linked social and economic recovery. Alongside her teaching responsibilities, Rebecca is currently writing articles and planning to produce a monograph based on her research.

Research Interests