Kaushik Sunder Rajan

Kaushik Sunder Rajan is a Professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, where he co-directs the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory. His work bridges Anthropology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and political economy, focusing on the global life sciences and biomedicine with empirical emphasis on the United States and India.

His research interrogates the intersection of scientific knowledge, capitalism, and postcolonial theory through three commitments: analyzing scientific epistemology, ethnographically studying multi-scale political economic structures, and theorizing contemporary capitalism. Key publications include the monographs Pharmocracy: Value, Politics and Knowledge in Global Biomedicine (2017), Biocapital: The Constitution of Post-Genomic Life (2006), and edited volume Lively Capital (2012).

Recent work explores biomedical translational research in India, ethnographic methods pedagogy (particularly in dialogue with photography), and comparative studies of health judicialization in India and South Africa. His teaching portfolio includes graduate-level ethnographic fieldwork methods and undergraduate STS courses.