Raju Chalwadi
About Me
Welcome to my website!
My name is Raju Chalwadi, and I am an urban anthropologist based in Mumbai. Starting in January 2026, I will be a CASI Spring 2026 Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania, PA. I currently work as a Research Associate at IIT Bombay, and I defended my PhD in September 2024. My doctoral fieldwork examined the urban history and cultural life of a north Indian Dalit community in Mumbai. In answering my questions, I undertook an ethnography of placemaking, caste, human-animal relations, culture, and neighbourhood life. My research specifically contributes to the strands of scholarship on India that discuss the urban career of caste and Dalit engagement with city life. In 2022-23, I was a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where I wrote a substantial part of my doctoral thesis.
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At a broader theoretical plane, through my research, I aim to enrich our anthropological understanding of how cities and marginalised communities co-constitute each other. ​​​
My Work
Latest Publications
Chalwadi, R. (2024). Caste Solidarity and Religiosity among Mumbai Dalits during the Covid Pandemic. South Asia Research, 44(1), 41-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/02627280231215468
Contact Me
If you have any questions or comments about my work, I would be happy to get in touch. Please feel free to write to me at chalwadir1@gmail.com and I will respond at the earliest. I am also on Twitter, and my handle is @rchalwadi21.
