- University of Erfurt, Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Department Memberadd
- Historian working on South Asia and global history. Research interests include historical disasters, international ci... moreHistorian working on South Asia and global history. Research interests include historical disasters, international civil society networks, Scandinavian colonialism and social theory.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article addresses urban reconstruction in Bihar after the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake by arguing that the aftermath became an opportunity for the local government to implement town planning according to ideas of urban improvements... more
This article addresses urban reconstruction in Bihar after the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake by arguing that the aftermath became an opportunity for the local government to implement town planning according to ideas of urban improvements guiding sanitation, engineering and control of spaces since the late nineteenth century in colonial India. While earthquake safety surfaced as a central aim of town planning, the local government used the reconstruction phase to improve sanitation facilities, widen roads and restructure plots in bazaars of the three worst affected towns—Monghyr, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Human Geography, Anthropology, South Asian Studies, Global Governance, Vaccines, and 15 morePolitical Science, Global Health, South Asia, Politics, Nationalism, Public Health, Medicine, India, Disasters, Global Health Governance, Disaster Culture, Epidemiology and Public Health, Risk and crisis management, Narendra Modi, and Vaccine Policy
Research Interests:
After a major earthquake in Bihar and Nepal in 1934, the Swiss peace and relief organisation Service Civil International (SCI), would for the first time set up work camps in India. This chapter exa ...
Research Interests: Disaster Studies, Political Science, International History, South Asian History, Swiss History, and 15 morePeace Movements, Pacifism, International Cooperation, First World War, Modern Indian History, Interwar Period History, Civil Service, Peace and Non-violence, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Bihar, International Volunteering, Internationalisms/internationalists, Historical Earthquakes, History of Voluntary Associations, and Pacifism In the First World War
The purpose of this thesis was to understand the ways parents with different educational backgrounds perceive education as enabling their children 'capabilities'. Situating myself in a rural area of Uttarakhand, I interviewed... more
The purpose of this thesis was to understand the ways parents with different educational backgrounds perceive education as enabling their children 'capabilities'. Situating myself in a rural area of Uttarakhand, I interviewed parents from diverse educational backgrounds about their children's education. Some parents were illiterate while others held university degrees. Their perceptions are viewed against the backdrop of the growing access and availability of education, facilitated both by private entrepreneurs and the Government of India, in a world increasingly stressing the need for education as well as the demand for education. I looked specifically at parents' perceptions of how education contributes to their children's 'capabilities'; what they perceived education as enabling their children to be and do. These perceived abilities ranged from 'being literate' to 'learning computers and English', partly reflecting the different aspirat...
Research Interests:
The third and concluding workshop organised by the Junior Research Group (JRG) “Cultures of Disaster” addressed governance and transcultural processes in historical ‘natural’ disasters in South Asia. In line with the two previous... more
The third and concluding workshop organised by the Junior Research Group (JRG) “Cultures of Disaster” addressed governance and transcultural processes in historical ‘natural’ disasters in South Asia. In line with the two previous workshops “Hybridity of Historical Disasters: Nature, Society, and Power” (Beirut, 2010) and “Learning from Disaster from Antiquity to Early Modern Times: Knowledge and Experience, Flow and Blockage” (Heidelberg, 2009), the workshop focused on a thematic aspect of the JRG’s research. It aimed to stimulate interdisciplinary research exchange on a thematic aspect of disasters in order to explain how cultural perceptions, interpretations and reactions to disasters took shape throughout history in South Asia. As may be discerned from the titles of the workshops, the research group explores the relationship between nature and society by analysing transcultural processes in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. The research into cultural histories of disasters ...
The 'SWASTHH Plus' program was a particular educational policy initiative that addressed health and sanitation concerns among school children in Jharkhand, India with schools being an entry point for health communication to the... more
The 'SWASTHH Plus' program was a particular educational policy initiative that addressed health and sanitation concerns among school children in Jharkhand, India with schools being an entry point for health communication to the community. This article presents the findings of a ...
Research Interests:
The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted from finding a cure to acquiring vaccines and organizing vaccination. The race for vaccination has exacerbated tendencies of hoarding, particularly among rich countries, academically... more
The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted from finding a cure to acquiring vaccines and organizing vaccination. The race for vaccination has exacerbated tendencies of hoarding, particularly among rich countries, academically expressed as vaccine nationalism. Vaccine nationalism is harmful to the global effort in the fight against the pandemic. India in contrast has been quite generous to its neighbours in sharing vaccines pursuing its own form of vaccine nationalism. The strategy pursued by India can be read as an effort to gloss over the failures in initial pandemic management, to improve diplomatic leverage and reinforce an idiom of nationalism. Such an effort however has potentially harmful effects undermining trust in the vaccine as well as in the government. The politicization of vaccine also has counterproductive outcomes for democratic practices within the country.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Anthropology, South Asian Studies, Global Governance, Vaccines, and 14 morePolitical Science, Global Health, South Asia, Public Health, India, Disasters, Global Health Governance, Disaster Culture, Epidemiology and Public Health, Risk and crisis management, Narendra Modi, Crisis/disaster Management, Vaccine Policy, and COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Research Interests:
After a major earthquake in Bihar and Nepal in 1934, the Swiss peace and relief organisation Service Civil International (SCI), would for the first time set up work camps in India. This chapter examines how the work camps in Bihar... more
After a major earthquake in Bihar and Nepal in 1934, the Swiss peace and relief organisation Service Civil International (SCI), would for the first time set up work camps in India. This chapter examines how the work camps in Bihar materialized through an exchange of ideas, networks, and cooperation in Europe and India. While several factors conspired to elicit the idea of reconstruction camps in Bihar at that particular time, SCI would for the practical implementation of the project depend on the support of a network of people that included Indian politicians, British Quakers and members of the Indian Conciliation Group. The thoughts and agency of SCI's founder, Pierre Ceresole serve not only as a window into the life of an internationalist and pacifist of the time, but also illustrate the importance of political networks and ideological motivation in the internationalisation of disaster relief in the 1930s. In this context, the chapter discusses the organisation and motivation behind setting up work camps in India.
Research Interests: Disaster Studies, International History, South Asian History, Swiss History, Peace Movements, and 15 morePacifism, International Cooperation, First World War, Modern Indian History, Interwar Period History, Civil Service, Peace and Non-violence, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Bihar, International Volunteering, Internationalisms/internationalists, Historical Earthquakes, History of Voluntary Associations, Religious Society of Friends Quakers, and Pacifism In the First World War
This article addresses urban reconstruction in Bihar after the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake by arguing that the aftermath became an opportunity for the local government to implement town planning according to ideas of urban improvements... more
This article addresses urban reconstruction in Bihar after the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake by arguing that the aftermath became an opportunity for the local government to implement town planning according to ideas of urban improvements guiding sanitation, engineering and control of spaces since the late nineteenth century in colonial India. While earthquake safety surfaced as a central aim of town planning, the local government used the reconstruction phase to improve sanitation facilities, widen roads and restructure plots in bazaars of the three worst affected towns—Monghyr, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur.
Research Interests:
A major earthquake hit Bihar, in the northern parts of India and Nepal, on 15 January 1934. Besides causing major destruction and death, the earthquake triggered scientific discussions and popular interpretations on the causes of... more
A major earthquake hit Bihar, in the northern parts of India and Nepal, on 15 January 1934. Besides causing major destruction and death, the earthquake triggered scientific discussions and popular interpretations on the causes of earthquakes. By looking at the confluence of interpretations and explanations found in science and "pseudo-science", and those found in astrology and popular interpretations circulated in rumours, this article discusses the role of expert and popular discourses in interpreting a natural disaster.