Faculty at School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Anita Sharma

Anita Sharma

Assistant Professor


Contact Information

  • Works on nomadic imaginaries and the politics of nomadism in the backdrop of sedentary state apparatuses; pastoralism, multispecies relatedness, the commons, ideas of development and education, social ecology and social theory; Jammu and Kashmir, Bakkarwals, Gujjars, Himalayas.
  • Courses taught: State, Citizenship, and Bureaucracy; Agrarian Worlds; Kinship and Relatedness; Nomads and the Outside World; Pastoralism in South Asia; and Anthropology and the Village

2017, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Delhi University

2008, M.Sc. Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford

01/16-05/16
Guest Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Delhi University, New Delhi

01/15-01/16
Consultant, RMSA-TCA, Cambridge Education, NCERT, DFID, New Delhi, Assam, Bihar, Orissa

01/15-05/15
Guest Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Delhi University, New Delhi

04/03-06/07
Programme Officer, INTACH, New Delhi

01/01-04/03
Senior Features Writer, India Today, New Delhi

2017, Commonwealth scholar, Centre of International Education, University of Sussex (Ph.D., 2009-2017)

2008, AO James Bequest, All Souls College, University of Oxford

  • Anita Sharma, 'South Asian Nomads — A Literature Review' (2011) PTA 58. CREATE Pathways to Access Series, University of Sussex: http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA58.pdf -rpc.org/pdf_documents/ PTA58.pdf
  • Anita Sharma, 'Nomadism and the Frontiers of the State' (2018) Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, New Series, Volume X, no. 1: https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/jaso/current-issue
  • Anita Sharma, 'The Bakkarwals of Jammu and Kashmir: Negotiating the Commons’
  • Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, 2020, New Series, Volume Xii, no.1(2020):  https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/anthro/documents/media/j...
  • Anita Sharma, ‘Communications From The Field: The Tale Of Two Gujjar Communities’
  • Nomadic Peoples, Volume 25, Number 1, Spring 2021

The Nomadic Bakkarwals of Jammu & Kashmir, (2009) Niyogi Publications, New Delhi Shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award – Non-fiction, 2010.

Anita Sharma, J&K State Report chapter in ‘Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on pastoralists in India’ (CFP). Centre For Pastoralism, 2022.

'Neither Jammu, nor Kashmir: Bakkarwals who’ve come into focus after the Kathua rape case need to be given citizenship'
Firstpost; May 16, 2018, (See https://www.firstpost.com/india/neither-jammu-nor-kashmir-the-bakkarwals...).

  • Organized and conducted a 2-days methods workshop for young scholars at IDS, Jaipur, In collaboration with IRD (Institute of Research and Development) Paris, Azim Premji University and Centre for Pastoralism, November 2019.
  • Presented a paper and an organizer for the conference at SNU 'Un(Doing) the Commons', Feb 2020.
  • Moderated a session 'From Gujjars to becoming Van Gujjars: A session on History and oral narratives', at the 'Gujjaran Go Kaarj', Rajaji National Park, March 2022.
  • Moderated a session on the Himalayas at the National Consultation on Pastoralism and the Forest Rights Act, IIC New Delhi, 5th-6th July 2022.
  • Presented a paper at the Living Lightly Conference on Pastoralism at SNIoE, Nov 7th, 2022.
  • Helped organize the Living Lightly Conference on Pastoralism at SNIoE, Nov 5th-8th, 2022.

  • Organizer, Living Lightly, Exhibition on Pastoralism in India, at SNIoE 5th-8th Nov, 2022.
  • Curator, J&K, Living Lightly, Himalayas 2023-2026.

Steering committee member for national survey on the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on Pastoralists of India along with Centre for Pastoralism, ATREE, Centre for People's Collective, Kalpavriksh, Pragati Abhiyan, SETU, and WASSAN. 2020-2022.