ABOUT ME
Welcome! I am the Center for Asian Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Louisville. I earned my Joint Ph.D. in Social Work & Political Science at the University of Michigan in Fall 2023. I research the long-run implications of historical religious institutions for development and democratic performance—drawing on interdisciplinary insights from political science, economics, and history. I specialize in the political economy of development, historical institutional analysis, and ethnic politics, with a regional focus spanning South Asia (India), Southeast Asia (Indonesia), and West Africa (Senegal). My work is motivated by three central questions:
How did decentralized and centralized historical religious institutions resolve collective action problems?
What are the long-run developmental and democratic implications of these institutions and their configurations?
Under what conditions do these legacies adapt and scale to overcome collective action failures amid structural economic transformations, poverty, and violence?
My dissertation theorizes and empirically tests the divergent implications of two medieval Islamic institutions in India: the decentralized Sufi Khanaqah and the imperially-centered Madrasa Dar-ul-Uloom. My research demonstrates how their distinct structural characteristics produce developmental and democratic dichotomies.
Methodologically, I use census-level administrative data from multiple sources across decades to develop large village-level observational datasets. This allows for rigorous statistical analysis and causal inference with placebo tests and instrumental variable analysis. I also employ multi-site and multi-method qualitative fieldwork, including archival research, participant observation, and in-depth interviews.
Beyond institutions, my research spans inter-group relations, religious violence, infant mortality, microfinance, and Twitterverse, with a focus on multi-ethnic societies navigating democratic entrenchment and backsliding. Prior to graduate school, I received my education in India and worked on international and local development research projects across its states and communities. You can view a copy of my CV here.