Fieldwork in Kerala revealed how deeply informal practices shaped this migration history—and how such practices resist conventional archival or institutional reconstruction. The lack of documentation...

Fieldwork within one’s own community is never a straightforward process of “insider” privilege. It requires navigating complex relationships, ethical dilemmas, and personal uncertainties. My time in...

Fieldwork taught me that being a researcher is not about authority—it is about empathy, negotiation, and humility. It is about showing up even when you feel uncomfortable, about listening when you...

I believe access and positionality were not static components during my fieldwork, but they were constantly evolving and entangled processes that shaped knowledge production during the research. The...

Cecelia Busby (2000) in her book mentions that she booked tickets for home and left. It was during this time before she returned to the field that she came across Malinowski’s (1989) diary, which she...

Research is more than an intellectual pursuit—it is a responsibility. A responsibility to honor the trust placed in us, to give back in ways that uplift and empower. It demands that we not only...

Since Assamese is the medium of instruction of the school, the students mostly spoke in Assamese regardless of their mother tongue. My own command over the language eventually enabled me to build...

The embodied experiences of being a queer researcher highlighted the threads that tie vulnerabilities to belongingness during fieldwork. Throughout my fieldwork, my queer identity became both a bridge...

It is through the concept of reflexive sociology that I make sense of the way my identity became a free-floating entity and, in fact, shaped my access and understanding of the elite world. In such a...