Profile

I am a sociocultural and medical anthropologist with a regional focus on South Asia, particularly urban India, and my research interests are centered on interactions between the body and its environment, globalizing processes, and consumption practices.

My current research revolves around how the environmental and health costs of rampant plastic use and disposal are experienced and comprehended differently in different local contexts. An article I co-authored, "The Anthropology of Plastics: An Agenda for Local Studies of a Global Matter of Concern" published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, set out an agenda for such an anthropology of plastics. The project has been supported by a Homi Bhabha Fellowship and a Carlsberg Foundation Semper Ardens: Accelerate.

Previous research interests have included lived experiences of polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder and the leading cause of female infertility worldwide, and explorations of how post-liberalization marketing discourses and consumption practices affect understandings of the body in India.