Dr. Dhivya Janarthanan

Education

• MA in Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• MPhil in Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Doctoral degree, SOAS, University of London

Profile

Dhivya has previously taught at the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi (2016–2022). She was also Managing Editor, Social Change, the multidisciplinary journal sponsored by the Council for Social Development (2022–2023).

Her ongoing and future research—focussing on the anthropology of space and caste, and on exploring reading and writing practices in higher education—align with her overarching interest in theory and method in the human and social sciences. Her doctoral thesis, supported by a Felix doctoral scholarship and a Charles Wallace India Trust grant, was an anthropological exploration of space and dominance in south India. She is currently finalising a book manuscript that examines the dynamicity and dialectics of social space and social relations.

Dhivya has also held a long-term interest in and fascination with words and their effects. In addition to working in the publishing industry (children’s literature; non-fiction publications; and scholarly publishing), she has conducted academic reading and writing workshops in university spaces and research institutions. This, and the experience of teaching sociology and mentoring postgraduate students, form the backdrop of Dhivya’s interest in academic reading and writing practices in India’s higher education institutions.

Research interests

Anthropology of space; anthropology and sociology of caste; theory and method in the social and human sciences; reading and writing practices in higher education; south India

Publications

• ‘Views from an anti-caste movement: Caste, labour, and religion in Sangharsh,’ Social Change, 54(2): 208–228, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/00490857241252695
• ‘Anti-caste movements, resistance, and caste: An introduction,’ (co-authored) Social Change, 54(2): 163–178, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/00490857241255228
• ‘Beyond contiguity: Space, caste, and statues in Tamil Nadu,’ Contributions to Indian Sociology 56(2): 186–211, 2022
• ‘Learning and everyday life: Access, participation, and changing practice, by Jean Lave,’ Anthropologica 64(2), 2022
• ‘Book review: Kalpana Ram, Fertile disorder: spirit possession and its provocation of the modern,’ Indian Journal of Gender Studies 26(1&2): 228–31, 2019
• ‘Impossible harmonies: social work, theory and movements: Review of Sherry Joseph, Social work practice and men who have sex with men,’ Journal of Health and Development 1 (2 &3), 2005.