On-going Projects

Digital Identity

I study Aadhaar – India’s national biometric digital identity programme as part of my Doctoral research. I am interested in the experiences of marginalised communities like informal workers and their changing livelihoods under digital identity, and the role of state in enabling digital led development. I study groups such as fisher communities, domestic workers and cab-drivers through ethnographic engagement, and also research governmental processes and procedures that enable Aadhaar led digital participation.

Gig Work/Economy

I explored as part of both my Doctoral research and as part of a funded research project if digital platforms and ‘gig-work’ practices improve or exacerbate existing marginality. India’s home-grown digital platforms are directly influenced by their counterparts in the Global North despite there being markedly more informality and digital exclusion in the Global South, which need to be acknowledged. I seek to understand and centre marginality and its relation to digital platforms, to identify fair or unfair practices resulting from the algorithmic control of work and its impact on working conditions. For a deeper dive into algorithmic and data practices of gig-work I conducted auto-ethnography working as a food delivery workers in early 2020.

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Completed Projects

Technology, Development and Hope

I researched the psycho-social notion of ‘hope’ both as an outcome of and as a factor encouraging technology use. This research explored the different meanings of hope within existing literature to synthesise a multi‐dimensional framework validated using case study research of the One-Laptop-per-Child project.