Dr. Agarwala studies how vulnerable populations, particularly workers, overturn power hierarchies and assert their rights through social movements. Her research has examined a range of working populations (including informal workers and migrant workers), workers’ identities (including class, gender, and caste), and worker industries (including construction, tobacco manufacturing, garment manufacturing, trash collection, domestic work, and agricultural labor).
While her empirical research focuses on India, she is involved in several networks to examine labor in the global economy using a cross-national comparative lens. Her work on Indian informal workers’ movements collaborated with colleagues examining such movements in China, South Africa, South Korea, Brazil, and the U.S. And her work on Indian migrant organizations in the Gulf and diaspora organizations in the U.S. collaborated with colleagues examining such groups from eight other migrant- sending countries. Her current project offers a comparative analysis of India, the U.S. and Denmark to examine how different populations with these countries (across income, race/caste, and gender) define and address the concept of social and economic “insecurity” as a value and need in and of itself and as distinct from income.
