I am an Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. My research and teaching revolve around the questions of nature-society relations, with an emphasis on concerns of social justice and political economy. Drawing on political ecology perspectives, ethnography, and interdisciplinary methods, my scholarship explores the ways in which everyday life in specific places intertwines with and is (re-)shaped by global political economies, ecological processes, and broader socio-cultural forces. My research interests include rivers and river islands, water and environmental justice, disaster and vulnerability, development and dispossession, and the agrarian worlds.

I received my PhD in Geography with Distinction from Syracuse University in 2016, where I was awarded the prize for best dissertation in the Geography Department for that year. Prior to obtaining my PhD, I received an MS in Environmental Studies from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York (SUNY-ESF), where I was a Ford Foundation International Fellow; an MSW from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai; and a BA (Hons) in History from Ramjas College, University of Delhi. After graduating from TISS in 2002, I spent six years with an environmental NGO, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), working on restoration of degraded commons – forests, pasturelands and water bodies – and sustainable rural livelihoods in southern Rajasthan.

I grew up in Majuli river island in Assam, one of the largest river islands in the world, located in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra. My fascination for rivers, river islands, and the rural world goes back to my upbringing in Majuli, where my childhood revolved around farming, fishing, boating, and occasional hunting. It was also in Majuli that I developed a keen interest in issues of water governance, disaster and vulnerability, having experienced these processes firsthand on the island, which were to become part of my research interests later.

I’m passionate about teaching. My teaching pedagogy prioritizes pragmatic assessments of student’s learning abilities, based on an awareness of structural inequities, and an engagement with theoretical concepts through close examination of situated case studies. Over the years, I have taught a wide range of courses, both at undergraduate and graduate levels, at Ashoka University, and have also been a Visiting Faculty in some of the prestigious universities in the world.

My non-academic interests include cooking, storytelling, traveling, indulging in good coffee and booze, and dabbling in percussions.