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Suryakant Waghmore

Associate Professor, Department of Humanity and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Dr. Waghmore has B.A in Political Science, History and Economics from Karnataka University (1999) and M.A in Community Development from TISS (2001). He completed his PhD in Sociology as a Commonwealth Scholar from University of Edinburgh (2010).
Experience:

Before joining IIT Waghmore was Professor and Chairperson at the Centre for Social Justice and Governance at TISS. He has held visiting affiliations at Centre for South Asia - Stanford University; School of Humanities - Hyderabad Central University; Centre for Modern Indian Studies - Univeristy of Göttingen.
Research Interests:

My research has encompassed a mixed method approach to study social exclusion, politics at margins, policy processes and state-civil society relations. I have been using ethnography, with other qualitative research methods and descriptive statistics to underline how social exclusion operates in India. Ethnography has helped me keep my research outcomes nuanced. For instance while studying caste, I have focused on aspects of emotions – humour and anger to theorise caste better. This has helped me frame broader theoretical arguments on vernacular modernity in Indian subcontinent.

On the other hand I have also done policy relevant research that has helped corporations and state bodies. I have completed a research on Katkaris, one of the most vulnerable tribal groups in Maharashtra. While working with govt. and non-government development agencies over the years, I closely observed the influence of cultural politics on development processes and how state and non-state actors converge and disperse to institutionalize deprivation. This interface of culture, state and social exclusion processes has continued to be a major area of my research interest.

My research also explores social movements of traditionally marginalised groups and their attempts of achieving genuine civility and democracy in the Indian context. Current research interest includes a focus on changing forms of caste etiquette in modern India.

Experience

  • –present
    Associate Professor, Department of Humanity and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay