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Vyjayanthi Rao


          










PhD, University of Chicago
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs
Division: 
The New School for Social Research
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Vyjayanthi Rao received her PhD in Socio-cultural Anthropology from
the University of Chicago and was a Post-Doctoral Associate at Yale
University prior to joining The New School. 
Her research
focuses on globalization, development and cities. In particular, she is
interested in issues such as infrastructure, violence, memory and the
cultural politics of modernity in contemporary and colonial South Asia.
Her ongoing research explores the contemporary urban infrastructure of
Mumbai and the impact of global processes upon Mumbai's urban futures.
She has published several articles based on this research and has a
book manuscript in preparation. 
Rao's previous research
involved assessing the impact of a mega-dam project amongst displaced
and marginalized communities in rural South India. 
In addition
to her regular anthropology course load, she also collaboratively
teaches courses focusing on the relationship between design and social
sciences. During the current academic year she is serving as the
Director of the South Asia Faculty Forum at The New School. She is also
a Research Associate and a former Co-Director of PUKAR (Partners for
Urban Knowledge, Action and Research), an interdisciplinary research
laboratory based in Mumbai, India.
Personal Statement: 
My research and teaching are closely linked to critically examining the
normative underpinnings of social life and to bringing in “peripheral
visions” into the space of the classroom. Although rooted in my
disciplinary training in anthropology, I am interested in turning my
classroom into a multi-disciplinary space where perspectives grounded
clearly in other disciplines find a voice. In particular, my
understanding of urbanism has benefited enormously from pedagogic
collaborations with architects and interaction designers. As a
specialist in South Asian social and cultural life, I am constantly
alert to the ways in which our disciplines continue to be firmly rooted
in universalizing and, often, Eurocentric paradigms. Both the focus on
multi-disciplinarity and “peripheral visions” are linked to a broader
project of rethinking the normative and ethical underpinnings of
contemporary life.
Academic Record
Research Interests: 
Theories of Globalization
Urbanism
Material Culture, Urban Infrastructure and Technologies
Memory and Monuments 
Theories of the Future
Development and Forced Migration
Anthropology and Contemporary Art
 
Publications: 
Vyjayanthi Rao | List of Publications
 
“Risk and the City: Bombay, Mumbai and other Theoretical Departures,” in India Review, Volume 5 (2), April 2006. (PDF) 
“How to Read a Bomb: Scenes from Bombay’s Black Friday” Public Culture, Vol. 19.3, Fall 2007. (PDF)
“Proximate Distances: The Phenomenology of Density in Mumbai,” in Built Environment, Volume 33, number 2, 2007. (PDF) 
Contact Details
Email: 
vyjayanthi.rao@newschool.edu