Alaka Basu

Alaka Basu is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University, with a former role as Professor in the same department. She holds a joint affiliation with the Sociology department. Her work bridges social demography, gender, and development, emphasizing policy implications of demographic research and the interplay of cultural dynamics with health and reproductive practices. She actively engages in public discourse through media contributions and academic outreach, including editorial roles for journals like Sociology of Development and Asian Population Studies.

Her research focuses on demographic diversity, gender equity, and the social determinants of health. She critiques rigid cultural norms affecting reproductive choices and advocates for evidence-based policies to reduce inequalities. Recent work includes analyses of pandemic governance during the global health crisis, gender dynamics in South Asia, and the demographic dividend in African economies.

Basu also leads initiatives to connect isolated researchers in under-resourced institutions, such as her role directing Cornell’s South Asia program. Her teaching spans courses on population dynamics, gender and health, and reproductive justice, challenging students to interrogate systemic inequities in global health outcomes.