1994. Doctor of Philosophy in social anthropology, Trinity College, Cambridge

1991. Master of Philosophy in sociology, Delhi School of Economics

1990. Master of Arts in sociology, Delhi School of Economics, Gold medalist

1988. Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English literature, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi

Beginning December 2010 to date, Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning August 2012, Visiting Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam (till July 2014, on lien)

Beginning January 2017-December 2019 Institute Chair Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning December 2008, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (till November 2009, on lien)

Beginning April 2007, Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning March 2003, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning September 1999, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning August 1997, Lecturer in sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Beginning October 1996, Lecturer in sociology, Miranda House, Delhi University

Beginning August 1995, Research Associate, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics

December 1994 to April 1995, ad hoc lecturer, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics

Books 

2019. Ed. Minority Studies. Oxford India Studies in Contemporary Society. New Delhi: Oxford University Press (New Paperback Edition)

2013. Boundaries of Religion: Essays on Christianity, ethnic conflict and violence. New Delhi: Oxford University Press 

2012. Ed. Minority Studies. Oxford India Studies in Contemporary Society. New Delhi: Oxford University Press 

2010. Ed. Margins of Faith: Dalit and tribal Christianity in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications. (Co-editor: Marianus Joseph Kujur) 

2007. Ed. Religious conversion in India: modes, motivations and meanings. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. (Co-editor: Sathianathan Clarke). New Paperback Edition 

Papers In peer-reviewed journals: 

2023. (with Anu K Antony). In correspondence with an ever-expanding heaven: Subject formation and spiritual labor among the Syrian Catholic nuns of Kerala. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13, 3: 573-586.

2023. (with Anu K Antony). Prayer as an actant: Freedom and sociality in the subject formation of a Catholic nun in Kerala, South India. Social Compass 70, 2:169-186. 

2022. (with Anu K Antony). Called to God: Event, narration and subject formation in the vocation of a Catholic nun. Critical Research on Religion 11, 1: 33-47. 

2022. ‘Private acts’ and structural inequality: law and Housing discrimination. Socio-Legal Review 18, 1: 70-95. 

2022. (with Prithiraj Borah). Adivasi Mahasabhas: Locating Gender in the Adivasi Movements in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly 57, 49: 32-38. 

2022. (with Sherin Sabu). Menstrual kinship: Bonds of Intimacy and Care Work of Women in Central Kerala. Ethnos, DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2022.2136229. 

2022. (with Monica Sakhrani). Isolated Complaints Committees: Is SHWW Act, 2013 Effective in Higher Education Institutions? Economic and Political Weekly, 57, 44 & 45: 43-48. 

2021. Catholics, caste and citizenship: Engagements in civil society. Journal of Civil Society 17, 1: 47-62. 

2021. (with Sherin Sabu). Psychometric properties of the semantic differential scale in studying attitudes towards menstruation among Roman Catholics in India. Journal of Religion and Health, 60, 4: 1-17. 

2019. The Christian conundrum: Minority citizens and the incivility of caste. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 42, 2: 328-343. 

2019. ‘Smell your sheep, shepherd’: What does it mean to be Catholic for the Dalit? Religions 10, 12: 659 (Special issue on Dalits and religion: Ambiguity, tension, diversity and vitality). 

2017. (with Tanvi Patel-Banerjee). Inhabiting or Interrogating Faith Piety among Muslim Women in Mumbai. Economic & Political Weekly 52, 42-43: 41-49 

2016. (with Wasim Raja, Hiten Choudhury and Dhruba J Saikia). Sociology of education and higher education systems. Economic and Political Weekly 51, 9: 67-73 

2015. In search of fraternity: Constitutional law and the context of housing discrimination in India. Economic and Political Weekly 50, 26 & 27: 54-62 

2014. Minority rights versus caste claims: Indian Christians and predicaments of law. Economic and Political Weekly 49, 14: 82-91 

2012. (with Surya Prakash Upadhyay). Revisiting communalism and fundamentalism in India. Economic and Political Weekly 47, 36: 35-57 

2010. Boundary battles: Muslim women and community identity in the aftermath of violence. Women's Studies International Forum 33, 3: 365-373 

2009. Negotiating traditions: Popular Christianity in India. Asian journal of social science 37, 1: 29-54 

2008. Betwixt kin and community: Muslim women and the family in the wake of ethnic strife in western India. Asian population studies 4, 2: 177-194 

2007. Outlining trends of social change in marriage and the family: An analysis of the urban Indian service class. Indian Anthropologist 37, 2: 1-16 

In books (peer reviewed): 

2021. (with Prithiraj Borah). Mai-baaps and minis: Spatiality, visuality and materiality in Assam’s tea gardens. In Tiplut Nongbri and Rashi Bhargava, eds., Materiality and visuality in north east India, pp. 57-71. Singapore: Springer 

2021. Minority citizens and the incivility of caste. In Suryakant Waghmore and Hugo Gorringe, eds., Civility in crisis: Democracy, equality and the majoritarian challenge in India, pp. 35-53. New York: Routledge 

2020. Christians and Christian Dalits in India: Balancing minority rights and caste claims in law. In Volker Kaul and Ananya Vajpeyi, eds., Minorities and populism: Critical perspectives from south Asia and Europe. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 10, pp. 231-241. Cham: Springer 

2019. (with Nandini Paliyath). Catholic citizens: Faith as activism in Mumbai. In Sujata Patel, ed., Exploring sociabilities of contemporary India, pp. 251-267. Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan 

2018. (with Dhruba J Saikia). Scientific research productivity in the Indian university sector. In Debaditya Bhattacharya, ed., The University Unthought: Notes for a Future, pp. 105-125. London and New York: Routledge 

2016. Religion in the sociology and anthropology of India. In Kiri Paramore, ed., Religion and orientalism in Asian studies, pp. 25-38. London and New Delhi: Bloomsbury Academic. 

2015. (with Savio Abreu & Ashok Kumar). Indian Christians: History and contemporary challenges. In Mujibur Rehman, ed., Communalism in postcolonial India: Changing contours, pp. 199-218. New Delhi: Routledge 

2015. Community, agency, identity: The paradox of Christian mission in India. In Martin Fuchs, Antje Linkenbach and Wolfgang Reinhard, eds., Individualizierung durch christliche Mission?, pp. 479-492. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 

2014. (with Surya Prakash Upadhyay). Religion and cultural pluralism. In Yogendra Singh, ed., Identity, communication and culture in Indian society (ICSSR Survey Report Volume III), pp. 339-376. New Delhi: Oxford University Press 

2013. (with Ashok Kumar M). Naraloka Prarthana: Prayer in the language of protest. In Guiseppe Giordan and Linda Woodhead, ed., Annual review of the sociology of religion (Volume 4): Prayer in religion and spirituality, pp. 123-140. Leiden: Brill 

2013. Social development of the Christian community in India. In Zoya Hasan and Mushirul Hasan, eds., India: Social Development Report 2012: Minorities at the margins, pp. 263-274. New Delhi: Oxford University Press 

2013. The culture of small towns. In R N Sharma and R S Sandhu, eds., Small cities and towns in global era: Emerging changes and perspectives, pp. 70-83. Jaipur: Rawat Publications 

2013. Planning and economic development: Ambedkar versus Gandhi. In Biswamoy Pati, ed., Invoking Ambedkar: Contributions, receptions and legacies, pp. 59-71. Delhi: Primus Books 

In other journals: 

2015. Pluralism and fraternity in constitutional law. Journal of the National Human Right Commission, India, 14: 187-204 

2014. (with Dhruba Saikia). Debating higher education in India – areas of silence, NMML (Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) Occasional Paper, Perspectives in Indian Development Series No. 37 

Peer-reviewed journal guest editor: 

2017. Guest edited with Introduction. Special issue on ‘The politics of religion and faith in south Asia’. Society and Culture in South Asia 3, 2: vii-xx

Selected Conferences (Last 10 years)

Imagining democracy: Fraternity, horizontal rights and democracy. Paper presented at international conference on ‘Law and the ties that bind’, Edinburgh University Law School, Edinburgh, UK, April 27th and 28th 2023

Constitutional law, ‘private acts’ and structural disadvantage of minorities: Making a case for a public sociology. Plenary presentation on the theme ‘Status of minorities in the constitution of India: Issues and challenges’ in All Indian Sociological Conference organized by the Indian Sociological Society and Department of Sociology, Mumbai University on 8th December 2021 (Online)

Dalit Christians in law and community. Paper presented at international seminar on ‘Primordial institutions and public policy’, Institute of Public Policy, NLSIU, Bengaluru, 10th and 11th December 2018.

Piety, patriarchy, power: Posing questions on women in faith. Presentation at international workshop on ‘The challenge of gender’, organized by Institute of Cultural Studies of East and South Asia, University of Würzburg and held at Akademie Frankenwarte Würzburg, 20th and 21st November 2018.

Christians: Engagements in civil society. Paper presented at international workshop on ‘Civil society perspectives from south Asia’ organized by the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations and held in the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, March 2nd and 3rd, 2018.

Triple talaq, religious freedoms: The anatomy of a judgment. Paper presented at international conference on ‘State, civil society and India’s religious margins’, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 7th and 8th December 2017

The role of civil society in promoting pluralism in a multi-religious and ethnic India. Keynote address delivered at national conference on ‘Religion and the Role of Civil Society: Challenges and Responses’, Department of Sociology, Loyola College, Chennai, 28th and 29th November 2017

Indian Institutions of Higher Education: Islands of exclusion or melting pots of integration? Paper presented at national seminar on 'Student Diversity and Discrimination' in NUEPA, New Delhi, 27th and 28th February 2017

Plenary talk delivered at All India Sociological Conference Plenary session on ‘Faith and religion: Contemporary perspectives’, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam, 27th-30th December 2016

Situating civility: Between reason and passion. Valedictory address delivered in international workshop on ‘Democracy against civility?: Majoritarian politeness and subaltern dissent in contemporary India’, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 15 December 2016

In search of fraternity. Talk delivered in panel at national seminar on ‘Shifting Paradigm: Re envisioning Minority Issues and Minority Studies in India’ at Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, on 8th and 9th September 2015

Christianity in the context of the anthropology of India. Paper presented at workshop on ‘Christianity, Anthropology and the problem of difference’, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 27-28 February 2015

Balancing minority rights and caste claims in Law. Paper presented at Venice-Padua-Delhi Seminars 2014 on ‘Minorities and the global populist tide: Democracy and pluralist societies challenged by ethno-religious radicalisms’, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice-University of Padua, 6th-8th November 2014

Indigenous Christianity. Keynote address delivered at a national conference on Indigenous Christianities organized by Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies and Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and held at Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, Chennai, 14th February 2014

Department award for excellence in teaching: Awarded the departmental award for excellence in teaching in 2019, based on student feedback of teaching performance of previous several years.

Institute Chair Professorship: Held at IIT Bombay from 2017-2020. 

Indian Council of Social Science Research’s research grant awarded for Rs 900000 for 1.5-year small research project.

Indian Council of Social Science Research’s conference grant of INR 100,000 awarded for holding an international conference on ‘Structure, institution and organization in globalizing India’ in 2012.

Tipton Distinguished Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, March 27 to June 10, 2010

Visiting Fellow at Department of Sociology, Hyderabad University, February 4th to 9th, 2008 under UGC SAP-DSA-I programme

Member of ICSSR delegation to attend conference in Beijing from 15-20th May 2006 on ‘Social change in India and China’ jointly organized by ICSSR and CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Visiting Fellow at Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, January 9th to 21st, 2006.

ASIHSS Visiting Professorship at Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, February 14th to 25th, 2005

First M N Srinivas Memorial Prize (for 2001) for the best article by a young sociologist published in an English language journal in India in the preceding two years. The award was presented for the following article: ‘Interrogating Modernity, gendering tradition: teatr tales from Goa’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 33(3), 1999

Charles Wallace Trust fellowship in Social Anthropology, three-month fellowship held at Queen’s University of Belfast, N Ireland, 5th February to 4thMay, 2001

Shrimati Kunda Datar Gold Medal, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, 1990

Professor M.S.A. Rao Gold Medal, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, 1990

Professor of Sociology (HSS) and Associate Faculty (ADCPS)

Life Member, Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

Life Member, Indian Sociological Society

Life Member, Indian Anthropological Association

Life Member, Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society

Life Member, Asiatic Society of Mumbai