Meet Our New Faculty | Dr. Karthikeyan Damodaran
June 12, 2023
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Karthikeyan Damodaran who joins NLSIU as Assistant Professor, Social Sciences. Previously, he was a Research Fellow affiliated to the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Goettingen, Germany. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a senior journalist with The Hindu newspaper for seven years.
His research interests include identity politics, social movements, urban studies, film studies, and subaltern cultures. His previous research focused on caste processions and commemorations in Tamil Nadu, and his current research looks at performances of traditional masculinity in contemporary times.
In this interview, he shares more about his interests and his work.
Can you tell us more about yourself/your background?
I was born in a remote village bordering the Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu and grew up in Coimbatore where I did my schooling and college. Hailing from an underprivileged social background, I was exposed to social and political movements from a very young age. Though I was socially and politically conscious, growing up in a small city limited my access to go to premier social science institutions for my undergraduation. However, during my postgraduation at Bharathiar University, I had the privilege of having access to a large underutilized collection of social science books and journals in the library. This developed my interest towards social sciences and made me move to Kolkata’s Centre for Studies in Social Sciences where I did my Research Training Programme/MPhil. Though I wanted to do a PhD in the UK, for economic reasons, I had to postpone it and went on to pursue journalism at the Asian College of Journalism where I got a full scholarship to do a PG Diploma in Print Journalism.
Following my graduation from ACJ, I joined The Hindu newspaper, primarily to cover southern regions of Tamil Nadu, which was then notorious for caste and anti-Dalit violence. It provided me the best on-field experience of covering social and political issues, travelling to some of the most sensitive locations, and covering major events.
Getting back to my unfulfilled dream of doing a PhD, I got a fully funded position at the University of Edinburgh as a Principal’s Scholar where I got the opportunity to work with Dr. Hugo Gorringe. I also had the privilege of teaching a highly multicultural mix of students there. After completing my PhD, I went to the University of Goettingen on a short term fellowship where I worked with the vibrant Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) as part of ‘Internationalisation of Curricula’ program and delivered lectures for a diverse set of students from various departments of social sciences. Following a brief stint with the Jain University in Bangalore, I moved back to Goettingen where I joined as a research fellow and taught two courses of specialization for two semesters at CeMIS.
Apart from my academic interests, I am a huge fan of football and cricket, which I played in my younger days to a large extent. I am also a movie buff and a huge fan of Tamil film music of the1960s, 70s 80s and early 90s.
What are your main areas of interest and teaching? How did your interest in these areas begin?
My research interests have guided my teaching; my broader areas of interest are in the field of political and cultural sociology. My primary research interest is to sociologically understand the question of caste and its influence in the political, social and cultural spheres, and also its dimensions in the everyday. My PhD research based on ethnographic fieldwork, analysed how on-going conflict between two caste clusters was reshaped through the proliferation of new political practices closely linked to visual culture and iconisation. Specifically, it looked at how new forms of political consciousness were linked to the annual public commemorations and how it influenced the reproduction of caste. I also have a major research and teaching interest in field of Media, Culture and Society.
What will you be teaching at NLS?
I will be teaching introductory courses in sociology. The importance of seeing things and events through a sociological lens provides a newer understanding and meaning to what we think is familiar.
Your thoughts on starting your teaching journey at NLS?
I already had the privilege of briefly meeting and interacting with some of the best aspiring legal minds of the country during an international conference hosted by NLSIU in 2015. I really look forward now to teaching and being part of this vibrant intellectual community and the environment prevalent at NLSIU.
Which one book / podcast / published piece would you recommend to our students and why?
Rupa Viswanath’s “The Pariah Problem: Caste, Religion, and the Social in Modern India” (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a book that I would recommend for students who are interested in the study of caste as a system of political-economic domination. A pathbreaking work that analyses how caste functioned as a form of labour control, historically subjugating Dalits within the discourse of ‘gentle slavery,’ foregrounded by both the colonial state and missionaries.
Could you highlight some of your key projects or publications?
Following my PhD, I was involved with ICAS –MP’s ‘Mediatized Politics – Visual Diaries of Indian Elections 2019 project, where I followed the campaign trail of a political party in Tamil Nadu and published a report. Recently, I have been involved in a few projects, including on ‘New research on the performing arts of south India’ and the ‘Civil Sphere in India’.
View more of his published work on Karthikeyan’s faculty page.