Bio

I am a doctoral researcher in Social Anthropology at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University. My work lies at the intersection of social anthropology, political sociology, and higher education studies. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in India, my doctoral monograph examines how study circles and collective reading practices enable marginalised students to negotiate caste, belonging, academic freedom, and everyday resistance in university spaces.

My current research interests include belonging and spatial identity in higher education, anti-caste and critical pedagogy, ethnographic methods and subaltern knowledge histories, urban marginality and institutional access, student movements and everyday resistance, and cinema and everyday social constellations. 

Academic Background

I hold a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and an MPhil in Political Science from the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. My academic trajectory has been shaped by continuous engagement with questions of caste, space, and institutional exclusion. 

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Research and Professional Experience 

Prior to joining Bielefeld University, I worked as a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi. I have also held research positions at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru, as an Urban Fellow, and at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, as a Research Intern. These experiences deepened my interest in spatiality, policy, and the socio-political experiences of marginalised communities.

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Public and Academic Engagement 

Beyond research, I founded Speaking From Margin (SFM ↗), a student collective and academic platform for research scholars, social and political activists, and students to engage in contemporary discourse in the social sciences and humanities.

During the 2024–25 academic year, I served as a Young Ambassador for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), promoting international academic exchange and student mobility between India and Germany. I am also a member of the editorial team of the Berkeley Journal of Sociology (BJS) at the University of California, Berkeley.

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