Ruchi Chaturvedi
Also known as: R Chaturvedi, Chaturvedi, R
University of Cape Town, Hunter College, Smith College
0000-0003-1783-8398
About
Ruchi Chaturvedi is a political and legal anthropologist who works on cultures of democracy, popular politics and political violence in postcolonial democracies. She received her M.A. in Sociology from the University of Delhi and her PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University. Chaturvedi’s key research focus has been on the formation of antagonistic political communities and the emergence of violent majoritarianism in India. She is the author of Violence of Democracy: Inter-Party Conflict in South India, which was published by Duke University Press in 2023. Her new project compares histories of nationalism and majoritarian formations in South Asia and South Africa attending particularly to womxn’s experience of violent transitions from colonialism to postcolonial rule. Chaturvedi also maintains a strong interest in the career of university apartheid in South Africa, mapping changes that have taken place in Social Science and Humanities curriculums and pedagogies since 1994. She is the co-editor of the volume on Epistemic Justice and the Postcolonial University (Wits University Press).
At University of Cape Town, Chaturvedi co-convenes the interdisciplinary MPhil specializing in Theories of Justice and Inequality. From 2018-2022 she was a founder and co-convener of the Mellon Foundation funded international consortium on Other Universals: Theorizing on Aesthetics and Politics from Postcolonial Locations. The project brought together students and faculty keen to think through 'universals' that have emanated from the experience of marginality primarily from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly the African continent, South and South-west Asia, and the Caribbean.
Employment
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University of Cape Town Associate Professor2024 - Present
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University of Cape Town Senior Lecturer2018 - 2023
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University of Cape Town Lecturer2014 - 2017
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Hunter College Assistant Professor2008 - 2013
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Smith College Visiting Assistant Professor2006 - 2008
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University of Cape Town
Education
Education history is unavailable.
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (49)
- Race and Caste: Crises and Histories of the Postcolonial Contemporary Save
- Violence of Democracy talk at Addis Ababa University Save
- Panel discussion: Conversations on South Asia at Dartmouth College Save
- Race and Caste: Hierarchy and Universality Save
- Political Violence, Subjectivity and Culpability Save
- Violence of Democracy: Thinking from a Place and Beyond Save
- Epistemic Justice and the Postcolonial University Save
- Solidarities and Graded Inequalities Save
- Panel discussion on Violence of Democracy: Interparty Conflict in South India with Ritty Lukose and Ujjwal Singh Save
- Panel discussion on Violence of Democracy: Interparty Conflict in South India with Moyukh Chatterjee and Luisa Steur Save