Research Interests

• Urban Studies

• Victorian Studies

  Courses Taught

• LAN 102: Speaking & Writing Skills

• LAL 222: City in Literature

• LAL 225: Self and Society in Modern India

• LAL 226: Experiencing the Indian University

• LAL 228: Travel in the pre-modern world

  Academic Background

• Ph.D English, Jamia Millia Islamia (2020)

• M.Phil English, Jamia Millia Islamia (2014)

• National Eligibility Test (English) (June 2012)

• MA English, Hansraj College, University of Delhi (2012)

• BA (Hons.) English, Ramjas College, University of Delhi (2010)

  Fellowships

• Researching the Contemporary, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (July–August 2018)
• Urban Fellows Programme, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (2017–18)

  Professional Experience

• November 2020 onward: Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai

• September 2020 to February 2022: Adjunct Faculty, Ambedkar University Delhi

• January 2020 to June 2020: Guest Lecturer, South Asian University

• August 2018 to May 2019: Guest Lecturer, Department of Applied Sciences & Humanities, Jamia Millia Islamia

• August 2018 to May 2019: Guest Lecturer, Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board, University of Delhi

• August 2018 to December 2018: Guest Lecturer, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi

• August 2015 to February 2017: Senior Marketing Editor, Primus Books

• January 2013 to July 2015: Assistant Professor (ad-hoc), Bharati College, University of Delhi

  Doctoral Supervision

• Ms Nidhi (ongoing): “Reclaiming Agency, Restructuring Representation: Women’s Life Writings and the Partition of 1947”.

• Ms Barsha Santra (ongoing): “Blue Ecocriticism, Place, and Nonhuman Agency in South Asian Littoral Fiction”

• Ms Deepanwita Dey (ongoing): “Narrative Constitution of Madness and the Everyday in Contemporary Indian Literature”

• Ms Rudrani D. Chaudhuri (ongoing): Queer self-fashioning and digital media in contemporary Bengal

  Projects

• PI in “Planning the Bela: Reflections on Riverine Planning in modern Delhi”, sponsored by the JPN Center of Excellence in the Humanities, Indian Institute of Technology Indore from July 2024 to July 2026.

• PI in “Augmenting livelihoods through GI: A case study on Chhattisgarh”, sponsored by the IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation from April 2023 to March 2025.

• PI in “Heritage Appreciation of Barsur: Perspectives on History, Architecture and Tourism”, sponsored by the Chhattisgarh State Planning Commission from December 2022 to May 2023.

 Publications

• Books


• Co-edited with Sonali Jain. Literature, Language, and the Classroom: Essays for Promodini Varma. Routledge: 2021.
• Co-edited with Promodini Varma: Kipling and Yeats at 150: Retrospectives/Perspectives. Routledge: 2019.


• Papers in journals


• “Urban Farming, Planning and Environmental Jurisprudence in Delhi.” South Asia Research 44.3 (2024).
• “HRIDAY in Amravathi: Community-led, Heritage-linked Development.” Economic and Political Weekly 54.31 (2019).
• “‘Raped, outraged, ravaged’: race, desire, and sex in the Indian empire.” Porn Studies 6.2 (South Asia Special Issue) (2019).


• Chapters in books

Eleven published, five latest listed below:


• “Urban Ambivalence: Work and Home at Delhi’s Margins.” Urban Mobilities in Literature and Art Activism. Ed. Patricia García and Anna-Leena Toivanen. Palgrave Macmillan: 2024.
• “Towards a Farming of Parts.” Literature, Language, and the Classroom: Essays for Promodini Varma. Ed. Sonali Jain and Anubhav Pradhan. Routledge: 2021.
• “Nostalgic possibilities: Planning and heritage in Shahjahanabad.” Literature, Language, and the Classroom: Essays for Promodini Varma. Ed. Sonali Jain and Anubhav Pradhan. Routledge: 2021.
• “Foods Substitutes, Health Supplements, and the Geist of Fitness.” Food Culture Studies in India: Consumption, Representation and Mediation. Ed. Simi Malhotra et al. Springer, 2021.
• “‘...will never become quiet’: The materiality of narrative and memory in Trickster City.” The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History. Ed. Lieven Ameel et al. Routledge: 2019.


• Book Reviews

Over fifty published, five latest listed below:


• Rev. of Mountstuart Elphinstone in South Asia: Pioneer of British Colonial Rule, ed. Shah Mahmoud HanifiSouth Asia Research 42(2): 2022.
• Rev. of Beyond the Metros: Anglo-Indians in India's Smaller Towns and Cities, ed. Robyn Andrews and Anjali Gera RoyAsiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature 16(1): 2022.
• “A startlingly original debut .” Rev. of Tales of Hazaribagh: An Intimate Exploration of Chhotanagpur Plateau, by Mihir Vatsa. MZU Journal of Literature and Cultural Studies IX(1): 2022.
“An Onerous Achievement .” Rev. of Goner, by Tazmeen Amna. Dibrugarh University Journal of English Studies June 2021.
• “A Rich Ensemble of Cases.” Rev. of Future Challenges of Cities in Asia, ed. by Gregory Bracken et al. New Books Asia December 2020.


• Interviews


• “Enriching by Proxy: Anisur Rahman in Conversation with Anubhav Pradhan.” dialog 39 (Spring 2022).
• With Sonali Jain, of Anuradha Marwah. “Theatre, Feminism, and Society: Notes from a Practitioner.” Literature, Language, and the Classroom: Essays for Promodini Varma. Routledge: 2021.
• “Ruthlessly Yours,” of Ruth Vanita. The Pioneer 5 August 2018.
• “The 'Other' Vantage Point,” of Salman Rashid. The Pioneer 18 March 2018.


• Articles

Fifteen published, five latest listed below:


• “Yok Olmanın Kıyısında Yamuna’nın Delhi’sinde Çiftçiler.” beyond.Istanbul. December 2023.
• With Swati Janu: “Delhi Master Plan 2041: What will it take to create a real connect between Yamuna and city dwellers?.” Scroll 21 September 2021.
• With Swati Janu: “By including farmers in Yamuna riverfront plan, Delhi can ensure sustainability and social justice.” Scroll 20 December 2020.
• With Chetan: “Rethinking urban farming in Delhi: Lessons from the Lockdown.” Eco Voice 18 September 2020.
• “Bridging the gap between Yamuna & Delhi.” The Pioneer 23 December 2018.

  Panels Organised

• Urbanity and the Uncanny: Cases on Delhi, convened jointly with Deepanwita Dey at the International Convention of Asia Scholars 13, organised by the International Institute of Asian Studies in partnership with Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya in July 2024
• Love in the South Asian City, convened jointly with Nooreen Fatima at the 50th Annual Conference on South Asia, organised by the Centre for South Asia at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in October 2022.

  Conference Presentations

Forty-four papers presented in international and national conferences, five latest listed below:


• “Imperial Gothic and Racial Anxiety in Victorian Delhi”; presented jointly with Deepanwita Dey in International Convention of Asia Scholars 13, organised by the International Institute of Asian Studies in partnership with Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya in July 2024.
• “Monumental transformation: the changing perception of Sarai Pipal Thala in historical and social memory”; presented jointly with Rachna Mehra at The State of Urban History: Past, Present, organised by the Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester in July 2023.
• “Towards a spatiality of love: Field notes from Raipur”; in the 50th Annual Conference on South Asia, organised by the Centre for South Asia at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in October 2022.
• “Urban Ambivalence: Work and home at Delhi’s margins”; in Urban (Im)mobilities and Borderland Narratives, organised by the Fringe Urban collective in collaboration with the Association for Literary Urban Studies organised in October 2021.
• “From defence line to green zone: A brief planning history of the Northern Ridge, Delhi”; in the 12th International Convention of Asia Scholars, organised by the International Institute for Asian Studies in partnership with the Kyoto Seika University in August 2021.

  Member

• Association of Critical Heritage Studies
• Association for Literary Urban Studies
• British Association for South Asian Studies
• Comparative Literature Association of India
• Fringe Urban Narratives
• Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
• The Kipling Society
• Shakespeare Society of India