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About Dhiren Swain
I am a final-year PhD candidate in Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne (co-enrolled with IIT Madras), submitting my thesis in July 2026. My research focuses on slum communities, ‘poor group’ agency, and negotiation processes in the context of land titling policies (JAGA Mission) in Odisha, East India. I have published in journals like dialectical anthropology and contemporary south asia. I enjoy writing on contemporary political subjects in popular media as well.
I have strong expertise in urban anthropology, development studies, South Asian studies, and qualitative research on marginalised groups, policy implementation, and everyday politics. I am particularly interested in books on urban India, south asia, ethnographic research, land rights, informal settlements, governance, politics in the Global South, and comparative urban studies.
I enjoy conversing with authors and have experience conducting in-depth interviews as part of my doctoral fieldwork. I would love to host interviews that help make high-quality academic research more accessible to a wider audience, aligning with NBN’s mission of public education.
NBN Episodes hosted by Dhiren:
July 10, 2026
The Dravidian Pathway
In the rich political landscape of Tamil Nadu, few movements have had as profound and enduring an impact as the Dravidian movement. Vignesh Raja…