Amita Baviskar is a sociologist and Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology & Anthropology at

Ashoka University Ashoka University is a private research university located in Sonipat, Haryana, providing a liberal education in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. It was founded in 2014 and is based on the model of collective philanthropy, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Previously, she was Professor at the Sociology Unit,

Institute of Economic Growth The Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) is an autonomous, multidisciplinary Centre for advanced research and training. Established in 1958, its faculty of about 23 social scientists (economists, demographers and sociologists) and a large body of su ...

, Delhi, India. She received the 2005 Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, the 2008 VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research and, in 2010, was awarded the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award granted to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards for researc ...

for Social Sciences – Sociology in recognition of her analysis of social and environmental movements in modern India. Baviskar studies the cultural politics of environment and development in rural and urban India.

Education

Baviskar completed a BA in economics from the

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

in 1986, MA in sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi in 1988, and PhD in Development Sociology from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1992.

Academic career

Baviskar has taught at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics

, as a lecturer and reader, between 1994 and 2003, and at the Sociology Unit, Institute of Economic Growth as an associate professor between 2006 and 2016, and as Professor since 2016. Since 2020, she has been the Head of Department for Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, Delhi. Baviskar has been a visiting scholar at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

SciencesPo Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

and the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. She has also been a visiting fellow at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of th ...

and the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development,

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Baviskar is a member of the Editorial Collective of the
Journal of Peasant Studies
', and the Editorial Team of the Review of Urban Studies,
Economic and Political Weekly
'. She serves on the boards of several academic journals and institutions. During 2010–12, she was a member of the Forest Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. She also served on the Social Sciences jury for the

in 2017 and 2019.

Selected publications

* Baviskar, Amita (2021). 'Street food and the art of survival: migrants and places in Delhi, India' in ''Food, Culture & Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research''. 24 (1). * Baviskar, Amita (2020). "Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity And The Commons In Delhi". Delhi: Sage Publications * Baviskar, Amita (2018). 'Consumer Citizenship: Instant Noodles in India' in ''Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies''. 18 (2): 1–10. * Baviskar, Amita (2018). 'Urban Jungles: Wilderness, Parks and their Publics in Delhi' in ''Economic and Political Weekly''. 53 (2): 46–54. * Baviskar, Amita (2017). ''What the Eye Does Not See: The Yamuna in the Imagination of Delhi.'' In Hall, Suzanne; Burdett, Ricky eds. (2017). ''The Sage Handbook of the 21st Century City.'' pp. 298–313. London: Sage Publications (reprint). * Baviskar, Amita (2016). ''First Garden of the Republic: Nature on the President's Estate''. New Delhi: Publications Division, Government of India. * Baviskar, Amita; Ray, Raka (2011). ''Elite and Everyman: The Cultural Politics of the Indian Middle Classes''. New Delhi: Routledge. * Baviskar, Amita ed. (2008). ''Contested Grounds: Essays on Nature, Culture and Power''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. * Baviskar, Amita (2007). ''Waterscapes: The Cultural Politics of a Natural Resource''. New Delhi: Permanent Black. * Shah, Ghanshyam; Mander, Harsh; Thorat, Sukhadeo; Baviskar, Amita; Deshpande, Satish (2006). ''Untouchability in Rural India''. New Delhi: Sage Publications. * Baviskar, Amita (2004). ''In the Belly of River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley''. second ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press. * Baviskar, Amita ed. (2003). ''Waterlines: The Penguin Book of River Writings''. New Delhi: Penguin Books. . * Baviskar, Amita (1995). ''In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley''. Delhi: Oxford University Press. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baviskar, Amita Living people Academic staff of Ashoka University Delhi University alumni Cornell University alumni Academic staff of Delhi University Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Indian environmentalists