About Sneha Annavarapu

Sneha Annavarapu is Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College.

NBN Episodes hosted by Sneha:

Kunal Purohit, "H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars" (HarperCollins, 2023)

February 20, 2024

H-Pop

Kunal Purohit
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Can a song trigger a murder? Can a poem spark a riot? Can a book divide a people? Away from the gaze of mainstream urban media, across India's dusty, …

Sahana Ghosh, "A Thousand Tiny Cuts: Mobility and Security Across the Bangladesh-India Borderlands" (U California Press, 2023)

December 10, 2023

A Thousand Tiny Cuts

Sahana Ghosh
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Drawing on a decade of fieldwork in the borderlands of northern Bangladesh and eastern India, A Thousand Tiny Cuts: Mobility and Security Across the B…

Coastlines, Climate, and Comics: In Conversation with Dr. V. Chitra

November 5, 2023

Coastlines, Climate, and Comics: In conversation with Dr. V. Chitra

V. Chitra
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How can we use comics to present ethnographic research in new and unique ways? In this episode, we talk with Dr. V. Chitra about the fieldwork and com…

Lisa Mitchell, "Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections" (Duke UP, 2023)

July 25, 2023

Hailing the State

Lisa Mitchell
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
Listen:

In Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections (Duke UP, 2023), Lisa Mitchell explores the methods of collective assembly that people in Ind…

Malini Ranganathan et al., "Corruption Plots: Stories, Ethics, and Publics of the Late Capitalist City" (Cornell UP, 2023)

June 13, 2023

Corruption Plots

Malini Ranganathan, David L. Pike, and Sapana Doshi
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
Listen:

Corruption Plots: Stories, Ethics, and Publics of the Late Capitalist City (Cornell UP, 2023) illuminates how corruption is fundamental to global stor…

Adam Michael Auerbach and Tariq Thachil, "Migrants and Machine Politics: How India's Urban Poor Seek Representation and Responsiveness" (Princeton UP, 2023)

March 24, 2023

Migrants and Machine Politics

Adam Michael Auerbach and Tariq Thachil
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How poor migrants shape city politics during urbanization As the Global South rapidly urbanizes, millions of people have migrated from the countryside…

Ijlal Naqvi, "Access to Power: Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 11, 2023

Access to Power

Ijlal Naqvi
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Pakistan would desperately like to produce enough electricity, but it usually doesn't. Despite prioritization by successive governments, targeted refo…

Rumya Sree Putcha, "The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India" (Duke UP, 2022)

December 22, 2022

The Dancer's Voice

Rumya Sree Putcha
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India (Duke UP, 2022) Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how the Indian classical dancer pe…

Harris Solomon, "Lifelines: The Traffic of Trauma" (Duke UP, 2022)

November 4, 2022

Lifelines

Harris Solomon
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In Lifelines: The Traffic of Trauma (Duke UP, 2022), Harris Solomon takes readers into the trauma ward of one of Mumbai’s busiest public hospitals, na…

Sanjeev Routray, "The Right to Be Counted: The Urban Poor and the Politics of Resettlement in Delhi" (Stanford UP, 2022)

October 13, 2022

The Right to Be Counted

Sanjeev Routray
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In the last 30 years, Delhi, the capital of India, has displaced over 1.5 million poor people. Resettlement and welfare services are available—but exc…

Rajesh Veeraraghavan, "Patching Development: Information Politics and Social Change in India" (Oxford UP, 2021)

May 31, 2022

Patching Development

Rajesh Veeraraghavan
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How can development programs deliver benefits to marginalized citizens in ways that expand their rights and freedoms? Political will and good policy d…

Aniket Aga, "Genetically Modified Democracy: Transgenic Crops in Contemporary India" (Yale UP, 2022)

May 30, 2022

Genetically Modified Democracy

Aniket Aga
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How the debate over genetically modified crops in India is transforming science and politics. Genetically modified or transgenic crops are controversi…

Jacob Doherty, "Waste Worlds: Inhabiting Kampala's Infrastructures of Disposability" (U California Press, 2021)

May 18, 2022

Waste Worlds

Jacob Doherty
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Uganda's capital, Kampala, is undergoing dramatic urban transformations as its new technocratic government seeks to clean and green the city. Waste Wo…

Studying Borderlands: Talking Ethnography with Dr. Sahana Ghosh

May 10, 2022

Studying Borderlands

Sahana Ghosh
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How do border policing and violence intersect with gender and sexuality to affect border communities? Today’s guest, Dr. Sahana Ghosh, Assistant Profe…

Paige Sweet, "The Politics of Surviving: How Women Navigate Domestic Violence and Its Aftermath" (U California Press, 2021)

March 31, 2022

The Politics of Surviving

Paige Sweet
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

For women who have experienced domestic violence, proving that you are a “good victim” is no longer enough. Victims must also show that they are recov…

Rashmi Sadana, "The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure" (U California Press, 2022)

February 9, 2022

The Moving City

Rashmi Sadana
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure (U California Press, 2022) is a rich and intimate account of urban …

Lisa Björkman ed., "Bombay Brokers" (Duke UP, 2021)

January 26, 2022

Bombay Brokers

Lisa Björkman
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

A political party worker who produces crowds for electoral rallies. A “prison specialist” who serves other people’s prison sentences in exchange for a…

Juan Manuel del Nido, "Taxis Vs. Uber: Courts, Markets and Technology in Buenos Aires" (Stanford UP, 2021)

January 25, 2022

Taxis Vs. Uber

Juan Manuel del Nido
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Uber's April 2016 launch in Buenos Aires plunged the Argentine capital into a frenzied hysteria that engulfed courts of law, taxi drivers, bureaucrats…

Jisha Menon, "Brutal Beauty: Aesthetics and Aspiration in the Indian City" (Northwestern UP, 2021)

December 7, 2021

Brutal Beauty

Jisha Menon
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Brutal Beauty: Aesthetics and Aspiration in the Indian City (Northwestern UP, 2021) follows a postcolonial city as it transforms into a bustling globa…

Doing an Ethnography of Policing: In Conversation with Sarah Brayne

November 4, 2021

Doing an Ethnography of Policing

Sarah Brayne
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

How has the use of big data and algorithms changed policing and police surveillance? On this episode, we speak with Dr. Sarah Brayne, Assistant Profes…

Nayanika Mathur, "Crooked Cats: Beastly Encounters in the Anthropocene" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

September 7, 2021

Crooked Cats

Nayanika Mathur
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

Big cats—tigers, leopards, and lions—that make prey of humans are commonly known as “man-eaters.” Anthropologist Nayanika Mathur reconceptualizes them…

Anna Ruddock, "Special Treatment: Student Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences" (Stanford UP, 2021)

August 10, 2021

Special Treatment

Anna Ruddock
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is iconic in the landscape of Indian healthcare. Established in the early years of independence, t…

Gowri Vijayakumar, "At Risk: Indian Sexual Politics and the Global AIDS Response" (Stanford UP, 2021)

August 10, 2021

At Risk

Gowri Vijayakumar
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In the mid-1990s, experts predicted that India would face the world's biggest AIDS epidemic by 2000. Though a crisis at this scale never fully materia…

Jacob Lederman, "Chasing World-Class Urbanism: Global Policy Versus Everyday Survival in Buenos Aires" (U Minnesota Press, 2020)

July 22, 2021

Chasing World-Class Urbanism

Jacob Lederman
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

What makes some cities world class? Increasingly, that designation reflects the use of a toolkit of urban planning practices and policies that circula…