About Rituparna Patgiri

I am Rituparna Patgiri and I have a PhD in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). My PhD thesis explored how mobile theatre of Assam occupies features of a counter-public but is a part of the larger Assamese public culture. It is often seen as an assertion of Assamese identity in the face of increasing globalization. Yet, at the same time, it has adapted itself to the commercial demands of the time by using the latest technologies and content. I am currently in the process of converting my thesis into a book. My larger research interests lie in media, public culture, gender and food.

I am also a co-founder of Doing Sociology (https://doingsociology.org) - an independent, women-led academic blog dedicated towards promoting sociological consciousness. As part of this blog, I have been regularly interviewing scholars and also been part of several book discussions.

Rituparna Patgiri has a PhD in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her research interests lie in the areas of food, media, gender and public. She is also one of the co-founders of Doing Sociology. Patgiri can be reached at @Rituparna37 on Twitter.

NBN Episodes hosted by Rituparna:

Hannah Gould and Gwyn McClelland, "Aromas of Asia: Exchanges, Histories, Threats" (Penn State UP, 2023)

January 24, 2024

Aromas of Asia

Hannah Gould and Gwyn McClelland

A uniquely powerful marker of ethnic, gender, and class identities, scent can also overwhelm previously constructed boundaries and transform social-se…

Jenny Trinitapoli, "An Epidemic of Uncertainty: Navigating HIV and Young Adulthood in Malawi" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

December 20, 2023

An Epidemic of Uncertainty

Jenny Trinitapoli

A decade-long study of young adulthood in Malawi demonstrates the impact of widespread HIV status uncertainty, laying bare the sociological implicatio…

Chetan Choithani, "Migration, Food Security and Development: Insights from Rural India" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

December 17, 2023

Migration, Food Security and Development

Chetan Choithani

Migration, Food Security and Development: Insights from Rural India (Cambridge UP, 2023) examines the role of migration as a livelihood strategy in in…

Dolly Kikon and Joel Rodrigues, "Food Journeys: Stories from the Heart" (Zubaan Books, 2023)

December 6, 2023

Food Journeys

Dolly Kikon and Joel Rodrigues

Food Journeys: Stories from the Heart (Zubaan Books, 2023) is a powerful collection that draws on personal experiences, and the meaning of grief, rage…

Sayan Dey, "Performing Memories and Weaving Archives: Creolized Cultures across the Indian Ocean" (Anthem Press, 2023)

November 27, 2023

Performing Memories and Weaving Archives

Sayan Dey

Usually, discourses on the planetary evolution and the movements of slaves remain restricted within the narratives and scholarships of the Trans-Atlan…

Romit Chowdhury, "City of Men: Masculinities and Everyday Morality on Public Transport" (Rutgers UP, 2023)

August 22, 2023

City of Men

Romit Chowdhury
Listen:

In South Asian urban landscapes, men are everywhere. And yet we do not seem to know very much about precisely what men do in the city as men. How do m…

Ulbe Bosma, "The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment Over 2,000 Years" (Harvard UP, 2023)

August 20, 2023

The World of Sugar

Ulbe Bosma

For most of history, humans did without refined sugar. After all, it serves no necessary purpose in our diets, and extracting it from plants takes har…

Usha Raman and Sumana Kasturi, "Childscape, Mediascape: Children and Media in India" (Orient BlackSwan, 2023)

July 21, 2023

Childscape, Mediascape

Usha Raman and Sumana Kasturi
Listen:

Children are considered to be a group of special interest by media scholars and advocates, especially because they are seen as a vulnerable group whos…

Olga Burlyuk and Ladan Rahbari, "Migrant Academics' Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe" (Open Book Publishers, 2023)

June 17, 2023

Migrant Academics' Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe

Olga Burlyuk and Ladan Rahbari
Listen:

Migrant Academics’ Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe (Open Book Publishers, 2023) consists of narratives of migrant academics from the …

Daniel E. Agbiboa, "They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria" (Oxford UP, 2023)

June 14, 2023

They Eat Our Sweat

Daniel E. Agbiboa
Listen:

Accounts of corruption in Africa and the Global South are generally overly simplistic and macro-oriented, and commonly disconnect everyday (petty) cor…

Payal Arora et al., "Feminist Futures of Work: Reimagining Labour in the Digital Economy" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

June 12, 2023

Feminist Futures of Work

Payal Arora, Usha Raman, and René König
Listen:

The future of work is at the centre of debates related to the emerging digital society. Concerns range from the inclusion, equity, and dignity of thos…

Maitrayee Chaudhuri and Manish Thakur, "Doing Theory: Locations, Hierarchies and Disjunctions" (Orient Blackswan, 2018)

June 11, 2023

Doing Theory

Maitrayee Chaudhuri and Manish Thakur
Listen:

We live in times where theory is often understood as irrelevant in the real world. It appears to have no practical results. This has been further comp…

Ashok Gopal, "A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B. R. Ambedkar" (Navayana, 2023)

May 30, 2023

A Part Apart

Ashok Gopal
Listen:

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) is perhaps the most iconised historical figure in India. Born into a caste deemed ‘unfit for human association’, he…

Matt Dawson, "The Political Durkheim: Sociology, Socialism, Legacies" (Routledge, 2023)

May 17, 2023

The Political Durkheim

Matt Dawson

Matt Dawson's The Political Durkheim: Sociology, Socialism, Legacies (Routledge, 2023) presents Durkheim as an important political sociologist, inspir…

Mark Carrigan and Lambros Fatsis, "The Public and Their Platforms: Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media" (Bristol UP, 2021)

May 16, 2023

The Public and Their Platforms

Mark Carrigan and Lambros Fatsis

As social media is increasingly becoming a standard feature of sociological practice, this timely book The Public and Their Platforms: Public Sociolog…

Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas, "Gastrofashion from Haute Cuisine to Haute Couture: Fashion and Food" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

April 7, 2023

Gastrofashion from Haute Cuisine to Haute Couture

Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas

For hundreds of years consumers and scholars have acknowledged that food is affected by the same rapid shifts in taste and consumption as clothing. Tr…

Uddipana Goswami, "Gendering Peace in Violent Peripheries: Marginality, Masculinity, and Feminist Agency" (Routledge, 2022)

March 26, 2023

Gendering Peace in Violent Peripheries

Uddipana Goswami

Gendering Peace in Violent Peripheries: Marginality, Masculinity, and Feminist Agency (Routledge, 2022) forward Assam (and Northeast India) as a speci…

Julia Kowalski, "Counseling Women: Kinship Against Violence in India" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)

March 22, 2023

Counseling Women

Julia Kowalski

Women’s rights activists around the world have commonly understood gendered violence as the product of so-called traditional family structures, from w…

Melanie Heath, "Forbidden Intimacies: Polygamies at the Limits of Western Tolerance" (Stanford UP, 2023)

March 21, 2023

Forbidden Intimacies

Melanie Heath

In the past thirty years, polygamy has become a flashpoint of conflict as Western governments attempt to regulate certain cultural and religious pract…

Katherine Davies, "Siblings and Sociology" (Manchester UP, 2023)

March 13, 2023

Siblings and Sociology

Katherine Davies

Katherine Davies' book Siblings and Sociology (Manchester UP, 2023) draws upon innovative qualitative data sources to explore the significance of sibl…

Melanie Heath et al., "Global Feminist Autoethnographies During COVID-19: Displacements and Disruptions" (Routledge, 2022)

March 4, 2023

Global Feminist Autoethnographies During COVID-19

Melanie Heath, Akosua Darkwah, Josephine Beoku-Betts and Bandana Purkayastha

Global Feminist Autoethnographies During COVID-19: Displacements and Disruptions (Routledge, 2022) bears witness to our displacements, disruptions, an…

Bin Xu, "The Culture of Democracy: A Sociological Approach to Civil Society" (Polity Press, 2022)

January 7, 2023

The Culture of Democracy

Bin Xu

Against the bleak backdrop of pressing issues in today’s world, civil societies remain vibrant, animated by people’s belief that they should and can s…

Sayan Dey, "Green Academia: Towards Eco-Friendly Education Systems" (Routledge, 2022)

December 26, 2022

Green Academia

Sayan Dey

Green Academia: Towards Eco-Friendly Education Systems (Routledge, 2022) can be read as a systemic long-term counter-intervention strategy against any…

Geoff Harkness, "Changing Qatar: Culture, Citizenship, and Rapid Modernization" (NYU Press, 2020)

December 21, 2022

Changing Qatar

Geoff Harkness

Qatar, an ambitious country in the Arabian Gulf, grabbed headlines as the first Middle Eastern nation selected to host the FIFA World Cup. As the weal…