The University of Houston-Clear Lake was my full-time professional home from 2001-2010, both demanding and supporting much of the research I produced in that period. I continue to teach UHCL students half-time [anthropology, gender studies; Asian studies/globalization, political economy]; teaching and research continue to be my core professional preoccupations, although the character of the latter has changed considerably over time.
2012-2021 were my years of consulting with a user experience research and design company, Human Factors International. One foot planted in academia, this was my foray into applied ethnography and design, bringing ethnographic data gathering and analytical methods to life in design and business settings. I worked on research projects all over: banking and mobile telephony in South Africa and India; communications in Cork, Ireland; and a long “embedded” stint leading the research vertical as part of the CX team, for Construction Industries at Caterpillar from 2020-21.
My own research falls roughly into these categories:
Auroville
2021: A review of Akash Kapur’s book, Better to have Gone (Simon & Schuster 2021), which appeared in LiveMint Lounge & was reproduced here.
2022: A joint review of Kapur’s book and Jessica Namakkal’s Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India (Columbia University Press, 2021) also appeared in Contemporary South Asia: “Whither Utopia?”
Food
2022: My #rasamseries documentations became an article in the inaugural print issue of Whetstone’s South Asia magazine Rasa: An Essential Taste of Rasam
2019-present: Shalikuta, Heritage Rices of India a collaborative, documentary project to create a repository of scientific, ethnobotanical, ethnohistorical and culinary knowledge about native rice species in India, including neutraceutical profiles. I’ve written in detail about Shalikuta’s aims and rationale in this blog post.
The asthma files
2017-18: part of a collaborative global ethnographic study of air quality issues in cities around the world, has me in the role of lead researcher for Chennai. We’re focused on understanding what the air means for environmental governance around here–who’s writing about it, talking about it, doing things about it, collecting data on it, dealing with it, suffering from it, studying it, translating it all for local communities, translating local community experiences into stuff that helps others understand it, figuring out its relationship with construction, thermal power generation, waste management, vehicular pollution, and in short, trying to understand it and maybe in the process regulate it.
Being steeped so in environmental issues here, both thanks to the consciousness raised by Auroville and as a result of my work with The Asthma Files, we’re also working hard at trying to adopt no-plastic and zero-waste, less-energy-driven lifestyles.
On ethnicity, social movements, and public hinduness:
The book that was finally born | “The Ethnicity of Caste” [Anthropological Quarterly, 2005 and reprinted in Greenough and Natrajan, ed. Against Stigma, 2009] | Public Representation of a Religion Called Hinduism [which, after two years of conferences and collaborations, has produced an edited volume entitled Public Hinduisms, ed. John Zavos, Pralay Kanungo, Deepa S. Reddy, Maya Warrier, and Raymond B. Williams, forthcoming with Sage Publishers] | “Temple Publics” [co-authored with John Zavos; introduction to a special issue of the International Journal of Hindu Studies] | and three essays on “Hindutva”: “Formative Assertions,” “Capturing Hindutva,” and “Hinduva as Praxis” [published in Religion Compass, 2011]
On genetic research, blood, and biopolitics:
The ELSI-HapMap Project | “Good Gifts for the Common good” [PDF][PubMed] | “Caught in Collaboration” [PDF][PubMed] | “The didactic death” [co-authored with Jacob Copeman, on dying and organ donation]
And other themes:
“Work without labor” [on consumption and work futures] | Mobile Lives [on the cultural life of mobile phones in India] | “An Indian Summer” [co-authored with Aalok Khandekar, on consumption, politics, and the 2011 Lokpal protests]
I’ve also blogged on Savage Minds from time to time…
Want to know more? Collaborate? Guest blog? Say lovely things about this site? Write me! I’d love to hear from you: deepa[at]paticheri[dot]com
Hi Deepa,
I work for a start-up called Affimity and we are in the process of creating the ‘the next big social media platform’. In the end, we want to create a space that’s a combination of FlipBoard, Quora and Facebook. I am trying to identify people such as yourself who have been writing for a bit, has the passion for it and wants to do something more. When convenient, could you give me a call at 95916 02008 so we can talk further? Or if you could send in your contact number, I can call you.
Thanks!
Suma
P.S — I couldn’t send an email via my official ID as the email ID provided here was deemed invalid..
Hi Deepa,
This is Niranjana from Indulge new indian express.wanted to connect with you regarding a story. can you please mail me your contact details at niranjana.h14@gmail.com
thanks:)
Deepa, how are you… wondering how you and the family are? Are you safe and healthy?
Suzanne
We are, we are! Hey Suz-Q! I’m on instagram @paticheri or email deepa @ paticheri [dot] com — do write there. How are you and all your handsome men?
❤❤❤
Good morning, what a lovely blog you have. Really interesting! My name is Ari Gautier, and I am a french writer hailing from Pondicherry and Madagascar. Currently, I have three books on Pondicherry through the pre and post-colonial historical perspectives. In addition to the historical aspect, my interest in food, particularly the Creole food of Pondicherry is reflected in my novels. Telling the story of the town through a social-anthropological angle is very important to me. Also, analyzing and writing the history of Pondicherry which is a contact zone resulting in cultural producer, be it with cuisine, commodities and material culture is what interest me the most. I have recently started an online project called Le Thinnai Kreyol in collaboration with Prof Ananya Jahanara Kabir where we explore the creolization process in different enclaves of India. And we have written a couple of articles under the title of Kucini Tales on the Indian express about food creolization in India. On our platform, we invite food historians and cultural entrepreneurs for conversations. I would really like to talk to you regarding our common interest in food, history, and anthropology. Thanks in advance!
Hello! I need a plant which give a thickness and also foams for making natural shampoo . Can you ?
Nupurji, there may not be one single plant that gives thickness–you may need parts of many plants listed in this post: https://www.paticheri.com/2019/03/13/how-to-make-your-own-herbal-hair-wash-powder/ Foaming comes from soapnut and shikai
reminded of similar ‘cheri Yashoda nu’ song and also ‘Kutcheri’!
Yes! That’s a beautiful Annamayya song. I’ll take both meanings–child of Yashoda I would always aspire to be, and kaccēri is of course something like “public gathering” as are all the offerings on this blog, so why not!