Emily Rains is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tulane University. Her research focuses on urban politics, gender, and political behavior in the Global South (primarily India). During her residency at A Studio in the Woods, she will develop her book on political life in Indian informal settlements. Roughly one billion people worldwide live in such neighborhoods, which lack secure housing, reliable infrastructure, and basic services. To improve their conditions, residents frequently turn to local politics, negotiating with officials for access to essential resources. But some communities organize and press their claims far more effectively than others, and the reasons remain poorly understood. This project seeks to explain why claim-making varies across marginalized communities, and how that variation shapes their development over time.