Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)

Profile

I am an applied social anthropologist working in international development. I have conducted research exploring the interfaces between gender, religion and development in India, Pakistan and more recently also in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. I am co-director of the Dowry Project a network of academics and practitioners working to eradicate dowry and related violence. I have published a number of books and articles most recently a volume documenting the life stories of Black Minority Ethnic women in the UK Women Violence and Tradition: Taking FGM and other practices to a Secular State. (2011, London: Zed Press).

I am course leader for the BA International Development Studies.

Qualifications

• PhD The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
• MA Social Anthropology of Development, SOAS
• Politics and The Study of Religion, SOAS

Research Clusters

• International Development Studies and Security Cluster (Coordinator)
• Women's and Gender Studies

Discipline Areas

• Anthropology
• International Development
• South Asian Area Studies

Research CV

Current Research Projects

I am working on a global comparative study of harmful cultural practices including dowry and FGM. The study considers the impact of migration, economic liberalisation and globalisation have on the prevalence rates of these practices and the ways in which they are observed. This study forms part of my wider research portfolio on gender-based violence which considers why we are seeing increased rates across the globe with obvious implications for women’s rights.

Authored Books

• 2010 Gender and Religion in Developing Societies: Faith-based Organisations and Feminism in India. London: IB Tauris.
• 2006 Challenging the NGOs: Religion, Western Discourses and Indian Women. London: I.B. Tauris, (paper-back published in 2011).

Edited Books

• 2011 Women Violence and Tradition: Taking FGM and other Practices to a Secular State. London: Zed Press.
• 2009 (with Tomalin, E.) Dowry: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. New Delhi and London: Women Unlimited and Zed Press.

 Book Chapters

• Forthcoming 2013. ‘The Place of ‘Practical Spirituality’ in the Lives of the Dalit Buddhists in Pune’, in Zene, C. (ed) The Political Philosophies of Antonio Gramsci and B. R. Ambedkar: Itineraries of Subalterns and Dalits. Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies series.
• 2009 'The interfaces between dowry, gender and religion', in Bradley, T and Tomalin, E., eds. Dowry: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. New Delhi and London: Women Unlimited and Zed Press.

Journal Articles

• Forthcoming 2013 (with Bhatewara, Z.) ‘The people know they need religion in order to develop’: Religion’s capacity to inspire people in Pune’s slums’, European Journal of Development Research. 
• Forthcoming 2013 (with Chakravarti, A and Rowan J.) ‘What Happened When the Corporates Met the Artists of Rural West Bengal? Exploration into the Art as Social Enterprise Model in India’, Journal of South Asian Development Studies.
• 2012 (with Saigol, R.) 'Religious values and beliefs and education for women in Pakistan',  Development in Practice, 22(5-6).
• 2012 (with Bhatewara, Z.) ‘Buddhist Engagements with Social Justice: A Comparison between Tibetan exiled Buddhists in Dharmsala and Dalit Buddhists of Pune’, Economic and Political Weekly, XLVII (1): 69-76.
• 2011 “Educate a woman and you educate an entire nation”: The Politicisation of mothering in the religious discourses of Hindu Missions’, Politics Religion and Ideology, 12 (2): 161-178.
• 2010 'Religion as a bridge between theory and practice in work on violence against women in Rajasthan', Journal of Gender Studies 19(4).
• 2010 (with Tomalin, E.) ‘The contemporary dowry problematic: exploring the role of the study of religion in bridging the gap between theory and practice’, Journal of South Asian Religions.
• 2009 ‘Religion and Globalisation: Bringing Anthropology and International Relations together in the Study of Religious-Political Trans-national Movements’, Globalizations 6(2).
• 2009 ‘Physical Religious Spaces in the Lives of Rajasthani Village Women: The ethnographic study and practice of religion in development’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 10(1).
• 2009 ‘A Call for Clarification and Critical Analysis into the work of Faith-based Development Organisations’, Progress in Development Studies 9(2).
• 2008 ‘Puja as one dimension of a sensitive, relational approach to community health care provision’, Religion and Health 47(4).
• 2005 ‘Does Compassion Bring Results? A Critical Perspective on Faith and Development’, Culture and Religion 6(3). 
• 2005 ‘Challenging international development’s response to disability in rural India: A case for more ethnographic research ‘, Journal of International Development and Disability.

Other Publications

• 2010 ‘The people know they need religion in order to develop: The Relationships between Hindu and Buddhists Religious Teachings, Values and Beliefs, and Visions of the Future in Pune, India.’, Working Paper 51 Religions and Development Research Programme, DFID/The University of Birmingham.
• 2008 NGPA no 4 ‘Physical Religious Spaces in the lives ofRajasthaniVillagewomen Religion as an analytical and practical approach in development’. LSE publication.
• 2007 ‘The relationships between Religion and Development: Views from Anthropology’. Religions and Development Research Programme, DFID/TheUniversityofBirmingham.

Grants Received

• 2012 Research Development Fund, University of Portsmouth to fund a pilot study of dowry, domestic violence and health care in Kerala, India.
• 2011 EU funding to cover research trip to West Bengal, India.
• 2011 NORAD grant (via the Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda) to cover development and partial delivery of an MA course ‘Religion, Gender and Development’. The grant also enabled me to conduct a small amount of fieldwork on domestic violence in Rwanda.
• 2010 travel grant from the Africa Desk London Metropolitan University to cover research and partnership development activities in Serra Leone.
• 2006-2009 Awarded an ESRC Post-doctoral fellowship (two years) part of the ‘non-governmental public action’ research programme, Centre for Civil Society, LSE.
• 2006-2010 Component coordinator and research associate DFID funded ‘Religions and Development Research programme’, The University of Birmingham.

Consultancy

I have conducted short term consultancy for both DFID and the EU on gender, culture and development.

Honours

• Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.