Kumar Ramanathan was the GenForward Postdoctoral Scholar from 2023 to 2024, and a Research Fellow from 2022 to 2023. Learn more about Kumar here.

He received his Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University in 2023. His research investigates the intersection of political institutions and racial inequality, with emphases on urban politics, public policy, and public law. He has published articles in Urban Affairs Review, Studies in American Political Development, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, and Political Research Quarterly. His book project, “Building a Civil Rights Agenda: The Democratic Party and the Origins of Racial Liberalism,” investigates how liberal politicians in the northern Democratic Party contested and constructed a civil rights legislative agenda during the 1930s-60s, and aims to explain the origins and limits of racial liberalism as it emerged among party elites. His other research includes work on the changing dynamics of local politics in Chicago, the development of social welfare policy, the role of party politics in conflict during the Civil War era, and the effects of immigration policy on immigrant political participation. He was previously a Doctoral Fellow at the American Bar Foundation and received his B.A. in political science and philosophy from Tufts University.