Smita Ramnarain
Biographic Data
| ID | 189997 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Smita Ramnarain |
| GIVEN NAMES | Smita |
| FAMILY NAME | Ramnarain |
| SIGNATURE | RAMNARAIN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Rhode Island |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1487-8415 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 30 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Introduction to the Special Issue on Anti-Capitalist Pedagogies and Teaching Radical Economics
Boundary struggles” and social reproduction: The farmers’ protests in India
Feminist Perspectives on Conflict, Disaster, and Violence against Women: Introduction to the Special Issue
Violence against women (VAW) is widely recognized as a pervasive, global problem that is associated with poor health and economic outcomes for women and children. Women are disproportionately exposed to physical, sexual, and psychological violence during volent conflicts and political upheavals. Similarly, research on disasters indicates a disproportionate impact of such events on women and girls, with an increase in physical and sexual VAW, spec…
Bringing Radical Assessment into Radical Political Economy: An Ungrading Experience
This article shares an experience with an “ungrading” experience in a radical political economy course at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Using qualitative data in the form of student narratives gathered from their written work, we argue that this form of student assessment empowers students to deepen metacognition, fosters their resilience and self-awareness, and privileges principles such as cooperation, collaboration, and sharing in lear…
Work and social reproduction in rural India: Lessons from time-use data
Efforts to decentre/decolonize our understanding of capitalist development in the Global South call for more complex and differentiated categories of work that acknowledge the significance of both non-waged and reproductive labour. These categories would allow us to more clearly 'see' the varying intersections of gender, class and caste within this world of work. Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of fo…
Gender, Social Protection, and Crises of Social Reproduction: Contextualizing NREGA
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of social protection programs such as India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). And yet, acute crises such as pandemics are layered upon existing inequalities of gender and caste in India. We show that a distinctive feature of twenty-first-century Indian capitalism is a restructuring of the caste-gender division of labor in rural India, such that women’s unpaid lab…
Female Headship and Women’s Work in Nepal
Literature on household headship has, by and large, tended to homogenize female-headed households (FHHs). This study presents a mixed-methods approach disaggregating the experiences of female-headed households (FHHs) in the post-conflict period in Nepal. One of four households in Nepal is estimated to be headed by a woman, either due to conflict-related male deaths (de jure, or widow heads) or men's out-migration (de facto, or wives of migrants).…
Class Debates in Intermediate Microeconomics: Social Economics and Pluralist Perspectives
This paper proposes the use of class debates in an intermediate-level microeconomics course to introduce early to mid-career undergraduate students to socially embedded and pluralist perspectives, political-economic processes, and policy analyses. Using data from three semesters of class debates in an intermediate microeconomics course, we argue that this activity is a beneficial way to stimulate student interest in social economics, especially i…
Gender and Adaptation to Climate Change: Perspectives from a Pastoral Community in Gujarat, India
Adaptation of rural communities to climate change has garnered much attention recently. Within this body of knowledge, two omissions are notable: first, while adaptation and coping responses of agricultural communities to climate variability and extremes are discussed extensively in rural planning, pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are neglected, homogenized, or considered ancillary to sedentarized agriculture. The mechanisms used by these c…
Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal
Feminist scholars have highlighted a rise in “non-traditional” household structures, as exemplified by female- and widow-headed households, as a consequence of war. This study points to the necessity of disaggregating female headship to trace the contours of household vulnerability of widow-headed households, a subset of female-headed households. The inadequacy of surveys in explaining the interplay between economic vulnerability and social norms…
Gender and social protection in the developing world: Beyond mothers and safety nets, by Rebecca Holmes and Nicola Jones
This book is a timely inquiry into the degree and scope of gender mainstreaming within social protection policy design and implementation. Social protection has emerged as a highly relevant issue i
Capital Accumulation and Women's Labour in Asian Economies , by Peter Custers. London: Zed Books, 2012
This revised and expanded edition of Peter Custers's (1997) book considers the often-sidelined question of women's productive labor in capitalist accumulation. Based on primary data collected on women's work in the factory, in home-based production, and in the technological sector in India, Bangladesh, and Japan, Custers engages with existing literature on the interrelationship between capitalism and patriarchy and exposes the discourses mobilize…
Universalized categories, dissonant realities: Gendering postconflict reconstruction in Nepal
International agencies, nongovernmental organizations, governmental agencies, and development policy-makers have sought to incorporate ‘gender mainstreaming’ into postconflict policies and programs in an effort to ameliorate the unequal gender impacts of war. This article uses narratives of widow heads of household collected through field research in Nepal in 2008 and 2011 to illustrate how postconflict development discourses purporting to engage…
Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal
Feminist scholars have highlighted a rise in “non-traditional” household structures, as exemplified by female- and widow-headed households, as a consequence of war. This study points to the necessity of disaggregating female headship to trace the contours of household vulnerability of widow-headed households, a subset of female-headed households. The inadequacy of surveys in explaining the interplay between economic vulnerability and social norms…
Universalized categories, dissonant realities: Gendering postconflict reconstruction in Nepal
International agencies, nongovernmental organizations, governmental agencies, and development policy-makers have sought to incorporate ‘gender mainstreaming’ into postconflict policies and programs in an effort to ameliorate the unequal gender impacts of war. This article uses narratives of widow heads of household collected through field research in Nepal in 2008 and 2011 to illustrate how postconflict development discourses purporting to engage…
Work and social reproduction in rural India: Lessons from time-use data
Efforts to decentre/decolonize our understanding of capitalist development in the Global South call for more complex and differentiated categories of work that acknowledge the significance of both non-waged and reproductive labour. These categories would allow us to more clearly 'see' the varying intersections of gender, class and caste within this world of work. Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of fo…
Gender and Adaptation to Climate Change: Perspectives from a Pastoral Community in Gujarat, India
Adaptation of rural communities to climate change has garnered much attention recently. Within this body of knowledge, two omissions are notable: first, while adaptation and coping responses of agricultural communities to climate variability and extremes are discussed extensively in rural planning, pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are neglected, homogenized, or considered ancillary to sedentarized agriculture. The mechanisms used by these c…
Female Headship and Women’s Work in Nepal
Literature on household headship has, by and large, tended to homogenize female-headed households (FHHs). This study presents a mixed-methods approach disaggregating the experiences of female-headed households (FHHs) in the post-conflict period in Nepal. One of four households in Nepal is estimated to be headed by a woman, either due to conflict-related male deaths (de jure, or widow heads) or men's out-migration (de facto, or wives of migrants).…
Feminist Perspectives on Conflict, Disaster, and Violence against Women: Introduction to the Special Issue
Violence against women (VAW) is widely recognized as a pervasive, global problem that is associated with poor health and economic outcomes for women and children. Women are disproportionately exposed to physical, sexual, and psychological violence during volent conflicts and political upheavals. Similarly, research on disasters indicates a disproportionate impact of such events on women and girls, with an increase in physical and sexual VAW, spec…
Bringing Radical Assessment into Radical Political Economy: An Ungrading Experience
This article shares an experience with an “ungrading” experience in a radical political economy course at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Using qualitative data in the form of student narratives gathered from their written work, we argue that this form of student assessment empowers students to deepen metacognition, fosters their resilience and self-awareness, and privileges principles such as cooperation, collaboration, and sharing in lear…
Capital Accumulation and Women's Labour in Asian Economies , by Peter Custers. London: Zed Books, 2012
This revised and expanded edition of Peter Custers's (1997) book considers the often-sidelined question of women's productive labor in capitalist accumulation. Based on primary data collected on women's work in the factory, in home-based production, and in the technological sector in India, Bangladesh, and Japan, Custers engages with existing literature on the interrelationship between capitalism and patriarchy and exposes the discourses mobilize…
Universalized categories, dissonant realities: Gendering postconflict reconstruction in Nepal
International agencies, nongovernmental organizations, governmental agencies, and development policy-makers have sought to incorporate ‘gender mainstreaming’ into postconflict policies and programs in an effort to ameliorate the unequal gender impacts of war. This article uses narratives of widow heads of household collected through field research in Nepal in 2008 and 2011 to illustrate how postconflict development discourses purporting to engage…
Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal
Feminist scholars have highlighted a rise in “non-traditional” household structures, as exemplified by female- and widow-headed households, as a consequence of war. This study points to the necessity of disaggregating female headship to trace the contours of household vulnerability of widow-headed households, a subset of female-headed households. The inadequacy of surveys in explaining the interplay between economic vulnerability and social norms…
Gender and social protection in the developing world: Beyond mothers and safety nets, by Rebecca Holmes and Nicola Jones
This book is a timely inquiry into the degree and scope of gender mainstreaming within social protection policy design and implementation. Social protection has emerged as a highly relevant issue i
Class Debates in Intermediate Microeconomics: Social Economics and Pluralist Perspectives
This paper proposes the use of class debates in an intermediate-level microeconomics course to introduce early to mid-career undergraduate students to socially embedded and pluralist perspectives, political-economic processes, and policy analyses. Using data from three semesters of class debates in an intermediate microeconomics course, we argue that this activity is a beneficial way to stimulate student interest in social economics, especially i…
Gender and Adaptation to Climate Change: Perspectives from a Pastoral Community in Gujarat, India
Adaptation of rural communities to climate change has garnered much attention recently. Within this body of knowledge, two omissions are notable: first, while adaptation and coping responses of agricultural communities to climate variability and extremes are discussed extensively in rural planning, pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are neglected, homogenized, or considered ancillary to sedentarized agriculture. The mechanisms used by these c…
Female Headship and Women’s Work in Nepal
Literature on household headship has, by and large, tended to homogenize female-headed households (FHHs). This study presents a mixed-methods approach disaggregating the experiences of female-headed households (FHHs) in the post-conflict period in Nepal. One of four households in Nepal is estimated to be headed by a woman, either due to conflict-related male deaths (de jure, or widow heads) or men's out-migration (de facto, or wives of migrants).…
Gender, Social Protection, and Crises of Social Reproduction: Contextualizing NREGA
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of social protection programs such as India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). And yet, acute crises such as pandemics are layered upon existing inequalities of gender and caste in India. We show that a distinctive feature of twenty-first-century Indian capitalism is a restructuring of the caste-gender division of labor in rural India, such that women’s unpaid lab…
Feminist Perspectives on Conflict, Disaster, and Violence against Women: Introduction to the Special Issue
Violence against women (VAW) is widely recognized as a pervasive, global problem that is associated with poor health and economic outcomes for women and children. Women are disproportionately exposed to physical, sexual, and psychological violence during volent conflicts and political upheavals. Similarly, research on disasters indicates a disproportionate impact of such events on women and girls, with an increase in physical and sexual VAW, spec…
Bringing Radical Assessment into Radical Political Economy: An Ungrading Experience
This article shares an experience with an “ungrading” experience in a radical political economy course at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Using qualitative data in the form of student narratives gathered from their written work, we argue that this form of student assessment empowers students to deepen metacognition, fosters their resilience and self-awareness, and privileges principles such as cooperation, collaboration, and sharing in lear…
Work and social reproduction in rural India: Lessons from time-use data
Efforts to decentre/decolonize our understanding of capitalist development in the Global South call for more complex and differentiated categories of work that acknowledge the significance of both non-waged and reproductive labour. These categories would allow us to more clearly 'see' the varying intersections of gender, class and caste within this world of work. Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of fo…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Anti-Capitalist Pedagogies and Teaching Radical Economics
Boundary struggles” and social reproduction: The farmers’ protests in India
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Economic growth (4 works) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics (4 works)