Faculty at School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Devika Bordia

Devika Bordia

Associate Professor

School of Humanities and Social Sciences


Contact Information

Ph.D., Sociocultural Anthropology Yale University, USA

M.Phil., Sociocultural Anthropology Yale University, USA

Master of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India

B.A., Philosophy (Honors), St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India

Taught at Trinity College, Hartford (2009-2010), and held postdoctoral fellowships at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris (2010-2011), the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi (2012), and the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany (2012-2015)

2022

  • “The Theopolitics of protest: Martyrdom in the Gujjar Andolan, the army, and the epic.” Contributions to Indian Sociology. 56(1): 41-62.

2015

  • “The Politics of Custom: Blood Money Disputes and Tribal Leadership in Western India” in Practices of Justice, Categories, Procedures, and Strategies. Diogène, Vol. 6 (3-4): 153-165. (original version of French translation published in 2013).

2015

  • "The Ethics of des seva: Hindu Nationalism, Tribal Leadership, and Modes of Sociality in Rajasthan”, Contributions to Indian Sociology 49(1): 1-25.

2015

  • Regimes of Legality: Ethnography of Criminal Cases in South Asia ed. Daniela Berti & Devika Bordia, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  • “Introduction” and chapter titled “Cultures of Policing: Panchayat-Police Practices, Gender Politics and the Making of a Criminal Case”.

2022       

  • The Aesthetics of the Flesh: Public Autopsies among Tribals in Western India in panel on Aesthetics and Law: Politics, Institutions and Aesthetic Ordering at the Law and Society Association Meeting, Lisbon, July 14, 2022. (Paper presented online).

2021       

  • Mediating Rage and Revenge: Mautana Custom and Panchayat Practices among Bhils in Rajasthan. Paper presented at Conference “Plural Ideas of Justice: Stories, Narratives, and Experiences from India” organized in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Justice Adda. April 24.
  • Panchayat Temporality: Emotion and Time in Bhil Customary Practice. Invited Presentation at South Asian Studies Program, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. April 23.

2020

  • Directing Revenge and Distributing Responsibility in Bhil Customary Practice in Conference “Undoing the Commons” Shiv Nadar University, February.

2018

  • Public Autopsies: Legal Practices and the Formations of Tribal Leadership in Western India in Workshop “Confronting South Asia’s Challenges: The Built Environment, Sustainability, and Governance” Joint Workshop: University of Michigan and Shiv Nadar University. Shiv Nadar University, February 26.

2016

  • Documentary Evidence, Legal Practices, and the Construction of Tribal Life in Western India, panel titled “Legal Pluralism and the Evidence of Indigeneity,” Law and Society Network Conference, New Delhi, December 11.

2015

  • Military Cultures: Army Employment and the Formation of Political Subjectivities in Rajasthan in Workshop: “Critical Caste Studies,” Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, July 10.
  • Cultures of Policing: Panchayat‐Police Practices, Tribal Leadership and the Production of Marginality in Western India in Workshop: “Marginality and the Politics of Mediation in South Asia,” Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, July 3-4.
  • The Ambiguities of a Return Home: Ghar Wapsi and Hindu Nationalist Mobilization among Tribals in Southern Rajasthan in Workshop: “The Question of Conversion and Indigenous Peoples (Adivasis) of India,” Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany, June 26.