Arun Agrawal

Arun Agrawal is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment, with additional affiliation at Yale University where he served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Ethics, Politics and Economics Program. His academic work bridges political science and environmental studies, focusing on community-based natural resource management in developing countries.

Dr. Agrawal's educational background includes a Ph.D. from Duke University (1992). His research interests span the politics of development and environmental conservation, decentralization, globalization, and the history of science. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Kumaon, India, examining 70 years of community-based forest management and how regulatory strategies transform environmental subjectivities.

His publications reveal consistent focus on how local institutions mediate environmental governance, with particular attention to the relationship between community decision-making and the formation of environmental consciousness. His work often analyzes how experiences of scarcity, responsibility for governing resources, and participation in regulation shape how people view themselves as environmental subjects.

• Arthur Greer Memorial Research Prize
• Best Dissertation in Political Science

Dr. Agrawal has secured research funding from prestigious organizations including the National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and World Wildlife Fund. His research demonstrates how community conservation efforts transform not only environmental practices but also the very subjectivities of those involved in environmental governance.