• Agrarian crisis
• Rural transformation
• Gender and labour (Intersectionality of caste & class)
• Informal sector
• Livelihoods

Archana Rangaswamaiah is an economic anthropologist with a PhD, MPhil, and master’s in Anthropology from the University of Hyderabad. Her research weaves together the threads of caste, class, and gender to critically examine the socio-economic transformations unfolding in rural India. Her doctoral work explored the complexities of rural change in a capitalist economy, with a focus on agrarian distress, labour mobility, and social inequality.

Archana’s early research focused on farmer suicides along the Kaveri belt in Mandya, Karnataka, highlighting the social and economic impact on women who lost their breadwinners. Her work shed light on the coping strategies these women adopted within deeply patriarchal structures. She brings a strong empirical foundation in field-based research on livelihoods, informality, and labour rights.

At the university, she anchors a livelihood initiative that examines informal labour in both rural and urban settings, critically engaging with questions of dignity, entitlements, and market relations in the contemporary context.

Prior to joining APU, she worked at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) as a Research Associate, where she evaluated a community-based suicide prevention programme using the RAND tool. She also brings industry experience, having collaborated with a US-based AI and generative AI company, applying anthropological insights to design products and services aligned with human needs and desires.