School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

I am an anthropologist and public health practitioner studying how structural violence is embodied in marginalized populations. I am specifically interested in the role of healthcare and knowledge systems & practices in both alleviating and reinforcing forms of suffering.

My PhD work is twofold, first to understand the intertwining of intimate and structural violence that results in homelessness and ill health. Second to describe how different actors ( civil society, the judiciary and state organizations) understand the problem of homelessness and how this imagination effects their forms of resolution. The work focuses on single homeless men and is an outgrowth of earlier work with a rights based organization(Centre for Equity Studies) in Delhi, India that provides healthcare services to street populations and advocates for their inclusion in the welfare system.

As a researcher I am interested in the patterns of uneven and unequal growth in Indian cities. I have previously worked on the intertwining of caste and class in the context of Delhi’s gated communities. My other interests include value theory, critically applied anthropology, mental health and political economy.

My work as a practitioner is centred around the epidemic of TB on the street, developing and evidencing healthcare services (street medicine, respite shelters, peer services) that look to control it.