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Associate Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

I completed my PhD in 2003 from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. My thesis was titled as `Fragmentation and Solidarity: A Study of Caste, Class and Gender Movements in Andhra Pradesh`, which was a study of the interface between the three political movements, in light of new theoretical frameworks, with special reference to Critical Theory and Post-Marxism. My first teaching assignment was at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Calcutta from 2001-2003. Here I taught apart from Political Science, also Constitutional History of India. I later joined the National Law School, Bangalore and worked there from 2003-2006. At NLS, I taught papers on Political Obligation and Indian Politics, apart from taking charge as a coordinator of the National Institute of Human Rights.

I have been teaching at the Centre for Political Studies, since 2006. At CPS, I have taught compulsory courses that included Key Concepts, and Indian Politics: Political Processes for MA, apart from offering an optional course titled Recognition, Redistribution and Representation. I have also been teaching Texts in Political Philosophy, as an optional course for the MPhil.My areas of research interests include Political Theory (especially CriticalTheory), Contemporary political movements, Postcolonial theory, and debates on Civil Society. As part of engaging with these areas I have edited a critical volume titled Re-framing Democracy and Agency in India: Interrogating Political Society,on postcolonial theory with a specific focus on the concept of `Political Society` that was published in 2012 (Anthem, London). The purpose was to revisit some of the fundamental assumptions of postcolonial theory and point towards some of its epistemic limits. I was also simultaneously working on my manuscript on contemporary political movements in India, which critically engages with the limits of liberal discourse and politics, with a special reference to the idea of Civil Society.

I published my book titled Politics of Post-Civil Society: Contemporary History of Political Movements in India in 2013 (Sage, Delhi). Here I tried to argue that contemporary political movements, including the human rights, Dalit, Naxalite, Feminist and collectives against new industrialization are pushing and nudging towards a new kind of politics of post-civil society.My current research has been around contemporary developments in Indian democracy after globalization. I am attempting to take a fresh look at the interface between these two currents. I also have been trying to look at the possibility of theorizing as to how postcolonial theory and liberal politics in India, belong to the same `epistemic community`. These in course of time should develop into research papers and published monographs.

I also completed an international project in 2012 titled `Inequalities and Affirmative Action: Past Experiences and Future Agendas in India and Nepal`, in collaboration with Goldsmith College, London university and Tribhuvan university, Kathmandu, funded by British Academy, Jan 2009-Jan 2012. This project attempted a comparative analysis of affirmative action policies in India, Nepal and Europe. I had the opportunity to be a Visiting Fellow Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law, University of Aberdeen, 2012; Visiting Fellow, Centre for Human Rights, University of Hyderabad, 2011; Visiting Fellow, Goldsmith College, University of London, 2010; Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship, SOAS, London, 2008.

Experience

  • –present
    Associate Professor, Center for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University