Professional Summary
I am a second-year MA student in the Department of Anthropology. My research has largely been interdisciplinary, where I use ethnographic and comparative historical methods to study the intersection of nature, capitalism, and inequality in North-East India and Bangladesh. In my research, I focus on dispossession, state power, and infrastructure by analyzing the diverse forms of labor and identity—read through the different lives of land and water.
For my master's thesis, I am studying property-making and land conflict among Miya (East Bengal-origin) Muslims in the chars (river islands) of Lower Assam. This study investigates how the twin processes of dispossession and changing geomorphological dynamics of the Brahmaputra affect the methods of conflict, protection, exchange, and redistribution of land in the chars of Lower Assam. I explore how commodification of space and restructuring of property rights over natural resources bring forth changes in land relations, thereby challenging and condemning the principles of redistributive justice among peasant groups.
Education
B.A. (Hons): St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi New Delhi, India, 2022 (History)
Research and Practice Interests
Political Ecology, Political Economy, Labour, Agriculture, Jute, Silk, Islands, Anthropocene, Islam, Environmental Anthropology, Rural Poverty, Citizenship, State Formation, Critical Development Studies, Water, Climate Change.
Positions and Work Experience
- Fall 2022: Graduate Teaching Assistant , Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 1001), University of Cincinnati,
- Spring 2023: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Humans and Nature (ANTH 2040),
Presentations
Paper Presentations
Pinaki Chandra (09-25-2021. ) Comics at the End of the World: Sketching the South Asian Anthropocene .International Conference on Postcolonial Studies in Comics and Graphic Narratives from South Asia organized by IIT Patna and Postcoloial Association, UK. Conference. Level:International
Pinaki Chandra (10-21-2021. ) Environmental Refugees: South Asia in the Global Crisis .CRISIS AND RECOVERY IN WORLD HISTORY :THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOUTHEAST WORLD HISTORY ASSOCIATION. Level:International
Pinaki Chandra (10-17-2023. ) Moral economy and the politics of dispossession in chars of Lower Assam .International River Islands Conference at Ashoka University. Level:International
Pinaki Chandra (10-21-2023. ) Stranded: CAA-NRC, Mobility Narratives and Disenfranchisement in chars of Assam . South Asia Conference, Madison organized by University of Wisconsin, Madison . Level:International
(04-03-2024. ) Anxiety, Aspirations and Mobility in chars of Assam . International Studies Association Annual Conference, San Francisco. Conference. Level:International
Symposium
Pinaki Chandra (04-17-2023. ) Refugee Rivers: Gender and Dispossession in chars of Assam .Graduate Symposium on Gender and Sexuality in Troubled Times. UC. Level:University
Honors and Awards
2022 Department of History Prize at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi
2023 -2024 GSG Research Fellowship Award Graduate Student Government Type:Grant
2023 -2024 TAFT Graduate Enrichment Award TAFT Research Centre Type:Grant
2023 -2024 TAFT Graduate Summer Fellowship TAFT Research Centre Type:Fellowship
2023 Public Careers Fellow A&S Type:Monetary
2022 -2023 Graduate Assistant Scholarship University of Cincinnati
2023 -2024 Graduate Assistant Scholarship University of Cincinnati
Contact Information
Academic - BRN 477