About Me
I am a legal anthropologist and Associate Professor of Law at Emory University. I hold degrees in political science, law, and anthropology from Princeton University and the University of Chicago.
My research explores personhood, freedom, and agency in law. Sometimes this takes me to India, where I’ve studied the nature of democratic sovereignty. At other times, it leads me to explore worker autonomy in the United States. I’ve published books and articles in both areas, and in both peer review and law review venues. All of my work is premised on the belief that cultural analysis and legal doctrine have much to learn from one another.
I’ve conducted original fieldwork in the United States and India thanks to the
generous support of the Fulbright Foundation, the Social Science Research
Council, the American Philosophical Society, as well as internal grants from
the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the University of Alabama. My writing has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, a Mellon Foundation/Social Sciences Dissertation Grant, and the Committee on Southern Asian Studies at the University of Chicago.
I was born and raised in Halifax, Canada by parents who emigrated from India. I’m now a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, as well as an Overseas Citizen of India.
Between the ages of 8 and 23, I trained in the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam dance under M.S. Hariharan, in Chennai. I completed my arangetram (inaugural performance) in 1997 at the Madras Music Academy, and performed regularly in Canada throughout my school years. I founded Princeton’s first classical Indian dance troupe, Kalaa, and oversaw its annual show as well as the choreographing of several original pieces. After college, I used a fine arts fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute to spend 9 months training in dance, music, and instruction at Bharata Kalanjali, the school operated by my teacher’s teachers, V.P. and Shanta Dhananjayan.
More recently, I’ve developed an interest in cocktail-making. I trained and was licensed to tend bar in California, and I am hoping to eventually be licensed in Georgia. My home bar leans heavily towards gins and scotches, with a few eclectic spirits picked up at small distilleries, but as an amateur I am always eager to expand my understanding of the craft.