Sohini Kar is an assistant professor at London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a socio-cultural anthropologist focusing on economic anthropology of South Asia. In particular, she looks at the impact of increasing financialization on poverty and development programs. She is completing a book project looking at commercial microfinance in India. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Indian city of Kolkata, the book examines how lenders and borrowers of microfinance negotiate the often-divergent ethics of financial sustainability and locally constituted obligations of social relationships. It demonstrates how in search for financial stability, commercial microfinance tends to reinforce rather than challenge structural forms of inequality. She is currently working on a new project examining the impact of finance on health care financing for the poor in India.
Prior to joining LSE, Dr. Kar held a postdoctoral position as Harvard College Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University between 2013-14. She holds an MA and PhD in Anthropology from Brown University, an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Economics and French from Columbia University.
