Arvind Geetha Christo

Graduate Research Assistant

Sociology: Neoliberal development, Development-induced Displacement, Development-induced Dispossession, Social Movements, Dalit politics, and Ethnography.

Arvind Geetha Christo is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University, where his research explores the intersections of development, dispossession, and caste politics in contemporary India. His dissertation investigates the lived experiences and political transformations among Dalit communities displaced by major infrastructure projects in Kerala, such as the Cochin International Airport and the Kochi Metro Rail, within the broader context of the Kerala Model of Development.

Arvind’s work combines ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews to examine how development-induced displacement reshapes social identities, political affiliations, and everyday life. His research contributes to critical scholarship on neoliberalism, caste, land, and environmental justice in South Asia, with a particular focus on the invisibilization of caste in development discourses.

Before beginning his doctoral studies, Arvind earned a Master’s in Ecology and Environmental Studies from Nalanda University, India. He has conducted independent research on displacement and rehabilitation in urban Delhi and studied the environmental politics of Kerala’s People’s Science Movement. His early training included an ethnographic project on the Kattunayakan tribal community under the mentorship of P. Sainath and Namitha Waikar at the People’s Archive of Rural India.

Arvind is committed to producing engaged scholarship that speaks both to academic debates and to the struggles of marginalized communities navigating the promises and pitfalls of development.

Grants and Fellowships

Sustainability Summer Fellowship 2023, Institute for a Sustainable Earth.

Sustainability Summer Fellowship 2022, Institute for a Sustainable Earth.

Education

Ph.D. in Sociology, George Mason University (In progress).

M.A. in Ecology and Environmental Studies, Nalanda University, Bihar, India.

B.A. in English Language and Literature, Prajyoti Niketan College, University of Calicut, Kerala, India.

In the Media

https://english.madhyamam.com/kerala/non-religious-non-caste-to-enjoy-economic-reservation-in-kerala-942334

https://theprint.in/india/kerala-temple-has-a-separate-toilet-for-brahmins-removes-board-after-social-media-uproar/376774/