The School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London

Teaching

Students supervised

• Ashraf Hoque
• Despina Papaphotis
• Paul Rollier
• Reza Gholami

Programmes Convened

• MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies

Courses Taught

• African and Asian Cultures in Britain
• African and Asian Cultures in the Diaspora
• African and Asian Diasporas in the Contemporary World
• African and Asian Diasporas in the Modern World
• Contemporary Trends in the Study of Society
• Critical Approaches to Neoliberalism
• Diaspora Cultures in the Modern World
• Dissertation in Anthropological Research Methods
• The Anthropology of African and Asian Communities in British Society

Research

In my thesis, I studied the historical background to the construction of ‘Indianness’ in South Africa up until 1952, where the idea of community was evoked through reinscibing cultural traditions brought from India, as well as being shaped by the new ways of life that developed in South Africa. In particular, I looked at why a small but significant group of Indian South Africans joined the South African Communist Party. I considered the ways that sections of the Indian community were radicalised through fighting for democratic rights and citizenship in South Africa, and the complex social, cultural and political influences that were woven into new forms of resistance in their social landscape. I also traced the emergence of a ‘diasporic’ consciousness at certain points in time, where Gandhi became a figurehead for a wider politics of belonging. I have recently been working on the changing character of disaporic consciousness amongst Indian South Africans, where, in the 1940s, it was tied to a socialist internationalism, rather than its current manifestation, where it is often associated with a right-wing Hindu nationalism. This has also led to me to research similarities and differences between Indian and Jewish communities in South Africa, and their historical conceptions of homeland and belonging. My next research project involves looking at the various Indian communities that have migrated to south London, and their changing conceptions of community, home and belonging. One aspect of this that I find particularly interesting is changing ideas of the ‘nation’ in Britain relation to migrant populations.

Expertise

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Available for

Regional Expertise

• Africa
• South Asia

Country Expertise

• India
• South Africa

Languages

Publications