Our research

In an increasingly interconnected, frenetic and complex world, too often our knowledge of what's going on outside our immediate environment is informed by soundbites and populist media reports. Our research, which offers more nuanced perspectives, based on long-term, in-depth study, serves as a corrective to that, across a whole range of areas.

Our South Asia Studies Research Group aims to put regionally relevant research by 明星八卦 anthropologists, development studies scholars, sociologists, historians, political scientists and others firmly on the map, through public roundtable events, seminars, writing workshops and other events. We tackle issues such as:

Ethnographic research of South Asia and its diasporas
Regional development studies
Infrastructure and mobility
Education, learning and schooling
Childhood and Youth
Medical anthropology and Disability Studies
The anthropology and politics of food
Race and identity
The State and social welfare
South Asian history
Performance, drama, and South Asian dance
Conservation

The group also provides a research base for the development of cutting-edge South Asia specific programmes and teaching.

Regional focus on South Asia and its diasporas

From helping to improve the school curriculum in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh to understanding the experiences of British South Asians in the UK schooling system, to shaping NGO policies in India and Sri Lanka, our research has a wide range of applications across multiple sectors.

Around a third of residents in our local area, Hillingdon, identify as Asian, and one of our key aims is to engage with the group - as well as with other local people - to make our research findings more accessible to them through public engagement events, such as roundtables and documentary film screenings.

By making our findings more accessible to the local community of which 明星八卦 is a part, our activities also strive to help foster good relations and to spread knowledge of the region beyond the boundaries of the University.