Aashish Xaxa

Dr. Aashish Xaxa is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Adivasi/Indigenous Peoples and Development Studies, in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, at IIT Gandhinagar. He obtained his Ph. D. in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in 2021, where he was an ICSSR Doctoral Fellow. His broader research is on the urbanisation and changing Cityscapes of India, focusing on unexplored aspects of equity, governance, and social justice. His Ph. D. examined the development of Indigenous Peoples of Central and North-East India, with special reference to urban development, constitutional and legal provisions, development issues, land tenure systems, local governance and democracy, alienation and deprivation, from a comparative perspective.

He is trained in Development Sociology, Urban Sociology, Development theories and histories, Public Policy, Comparative Studies, Governance, Contemporary Indigenous Studies, Social Exclusion, and Adverse Inclusion. His articles have been published and are forthcoming in international peer-reviewed journals, including ‘Economic and Political Weekly’ (EPW), ‘Social Change’ ; edited books and volumes, including the “United Nations Encyclopaedia of Sustainable Development” (Springer), which is the largest editorial project on matters related to sustainable development ever undertaken and “Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives – The Asia and Pacific Region” (Springer).

He has presented his articles at several international and national conferences and seminars held at prestigious universities in India, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.A. He is passionate about decolonial movements around the world, novels, photography, music, and Western Cinema. To that end, he has written several book and movie reviews for varied platforms, such as Medium, Doing Sociology, National Herald, RAIOT, Sanglap and Youth Ki Awaaz.

Research Interests: Development Studies; Urban Development; Sociology – with a Special focus on Urban Sociology and Sociology of Indigenous Peoples; Environment; Global Warming and Sustainability; Social Exclusion and Adverse Inclusion with Inclusive Policies; Patterns of Governance; Global History of Christianity – Development and Indigenous Perspectives.; World Cinema

 

Voip: 2592

Office: AB5/404C

Education:

BA: University of Delhi, 2013

MA: Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 2015

M. Phil: Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 2017

PhD: Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 2021

 

Selected Publications:

  1. “Populism, Development and Indigenous Resistance: Some Reflections from Jharkhand” in “Encyclopaedia of New Populism and Responses in the 21st Century” (Springer); Edited by Joseph Chacko Chennattuserry, Madhumati Deshpande and Paul Hong (Electronic ISBN: 978-981-16-9859-0; Print ISBN: 978-981-16-9859-0; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9859-0_351-1) on 14th January 2024.
  1. “Dismantling Colonial Cartography – Indigenous Urbanism as Spatiality, India” in “Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Regional Perspectives – The Asia and Pacific Region”(Springer: Cham); Edited by Walter Leal Filho(Electronic ISSN: 2731-5584; Print ISSN: 2731-5576; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91262-8_82-1) on 4th October 2023.
  1. Transformation of Tribal Hinterlands into Urban Spaces in India’s Fifth and Sixth Schedule Areas: Emerging Issues and Contestations” in“Social Change”Volume 51(3), pp. 362–378 (ISSN: 0049–0857, DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/00490857211032952)  on 6th September 2021.
  1. “Sustainable Urbanization in Tribal or Indigenous Peoples’ Areas of India” in ‘Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Cities and Communities’ (Springer, Cham); Edited by Walter Leal Filho, Pinar Gökçin Özuyar, Anabela Marisa Azul, Luciana Londero Brandli and Tony Wall (ISBN: 978–3–319–95716–6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71061-7_126-1), on 1stMay 2021.
  1. “Reimagining Urban Development in a Tribal Region – Readings on a Fifth Schedule Area of India” in‘Theorising Urban Development from The Global South’pp. 81–99, (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham); Edited by Anjali Karol Mohan, Sony Pellissery and Juliana Gomez Aristizabal (ISBN 978–3–030–82474–7; DOI: 10.1007/978–3–030–82475–4), on 26th October 2021. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-82475-4_4
  1. “Tribes and Urbanisation in North East India: Issues and Challenges”: Special Article in‘Economic and Political Weekly’Volume 54(38), pp. 46–52 (ISSN: 0012–9976), on  21st   September 2019. https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/38/special-articles/tribes-and-urbanisation-north-east-india.html

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS OF DR. AASHISH XAXA

 

Courses Taught:

I have designed and currently teach the following courses:

  1. Pride and Prejudice: A Critical Introduction to Sociology (HS 428).
  2. History, Concepts and Theories of Development Studies (HS 522).
  3. Critical Perspectives in Sociology (HS 651).
  4. Sociology of Tribes (HS 692-II)

PhD Students: 5 (ongoing), Master’s students: 3 (ongoing), 4 (graduated), Sabarmati Bridge Fellow: 1 (ongoing).

 

Work Experience:

  1. Assistant Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences Discipline, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (April 2022 to present)
  2. Consultant of The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Project at the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (January 2022 – March 2022)
  3. Research Associate, Indian Social Institute, Delhi (August 2021 – November 2021)
  4. Visiting Assistant Professor, Institute of Public Policy, National Law School University, Bengaluru (November 2020 – February 2021)
  5. Research Assistant, Indian Social Institute, Delhi (May 2014 – June 2014)

 

Academic Affiliations:

  1. Life Member, Development Studies Association (United Kingdom).
  2. Life Member, Indian Sociological Society.
  3. Founding member, Tribal Intellectual Collective India.

 

Award:

Recipient of the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship (2018–2020) for completion of the Ph. D. Academic Research