Malini Ranganathan

Malini Ranganathan is an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University and a political ecologist and geographer by training. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies; the Antiracist Research and Policy Center; and the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University. Most broadly, she is a scholar of environmental justice interested in the political economy of land, labor, and the commons in the context of urban development. She works on both India (primarily Bangalore) and the U.S. (primarily Washington, DC).

Professor Ranganathan is the co-recipient (with David Pike and Sapana Doshi) of the 2024 Anthony Leeds Critical Urban Anthropology book award for the book “Corruption Plots” and the 2023 Harold M. Rose Award for Antiracism Research and Practice from the American Association of Geographers. She also received a 2017-19 American Council of Learned Societies Collaborative Grant. She is currently senior personnel on a National Science Foundation grant project that promotes equitable and sustainable urban and regional food systems.