Chiara Arnavas

Chiara Arnavas is a Doctoral Research Fellow and PhD candidate in Environmental Humanities at the University of Oslo, affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities. Her research explores the intersection of criminal political economies and political ecologies, focusing on South Asian criminal networks, land mafia dynamics, and their connections to climate change, urban development, and social inequalities. Her dissertation, Coerced into Mafia. Crime and Muslim Criminalization in India, investigates the experiences of land mafiosi and Muslim farmers in Kolkata, West Bengal, examining how they navigate risks, discrimination, and opportunities within mafia networks.

• Research Themes: Land dispossession, caste and gender inequalities, environmental anthropology, political ecology.
• Regional Focus: India (West Bengal), South Asia, and Italy.

Her work integrates interdisciplinary approaches to analyze how criminal networks operate within broader socio-ecological systems, particularly in contexts of environmental degradation and urbanization. Despite no listed publications or awards in Cristin, her research contributes critical insights into marginalized communities' agency within criminalized economies.