PROFILE

Malini Bhattacharjee

Email: [email protected]

Malini Bhattacharjee's training lies in Political Science.  She has been teaching and developing courses for the Masters in Public Policy and Governance (MPG) and the Masters in Development programmes at the University. Her research interests revolve around issues of religious nationalism, the politics of humanitarianism and disaster relief, Partition history and the intersections emerging between religion, development and public policy in contemporary India. Her recently published book titled ‘Disaster Relief and the RSS: Resurrecting ‘Religion’ through Humanitarianism’ (Sage, 2019) examines the political implications of the humanitarian work of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by examining the institution of ‘seva’ (service) in disaster situations.

Malini started her career at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, South Asia Regional Delegation in New Delhi and worked there for a year. Subsequently, she worked in a conflict resolution firm named Metaculture in Bangalore (2009- 2010) where she was involved in conducting a conflict assessment of the Kandhamal riots of 2008 in Odisha between Hindus and Christians and implementing a CAO World Bank project on 'Local Stakeholder perceptions study for IFC funded projects' in the state of Gujarat. She joined Azim Premji Foundation in 2010 and became part of Azim Premji University in 2012.

Academic Qualifications

• PhD (Political Science), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
• M.Phil (Political Science), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
• M.A. (Political science) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. (2005)

Teaching

• Political Philosophy and Indian Politics
• Welfare Rights
• Religion and Development

Areas of Interest

Issues of religious identity, ethnicity and political conflict and the intersections emerging between religion and development.

Research Interests

Malini's primary work has revolved around the politics of Hindu nationalism in India. She is also interested in the anthropology of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Publications and Writings

• Bhattacharjee, Malini, ‘Did the First Amendment to the Constitution lay the foundation for an authoritarian state?’, The Indian Express, October 11, 2020.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini, ‘Serving the ‘Other’ During the Pandemic: Hindu Nationalist Groups and Covid Relief in India’, published in Religion and Covid-19 under observation: the Asia- focused research blog CoronAsur, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini, ‘73 yrs ago, Sylhet Referendum left a Hindu community homeless between Assam and Bangladesh’, The Print, 6 July 2020.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini, Interview in Bastion Dialogues, The Bastion, June 16, 2020.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini. Disaster Relief and the RSS: Resurrecting 'Religion' Through Humanitarianism (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2019).
• Bhattacharjee, Malini. ‘Hindutva as a ‘Sacred Form’: A Case Study of Karnataka’ in Religion in Indian Politics, edited by Narender Kumar (New Delhi: Routledge, 2019).
• Bhattacharjee, Malini (2018), 'Hindutva as a ‘sacred form’: A Case Study of Karnataka'
• Bhattacharjee, Malini (2015) 'Beware the Politics of Seeing Religious 'Meaning' in Disasters'. In The Wire, May 21, 2015, Available at http://thewire.in/2015/05/21/beware-the-politics-of-seeing-religious-meaning-in-disasters/
• Bhattacharjee, Malini (Forthcoming, 2016), 'Seva, Hindutva and the Politics of Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in Rural Kutch' as part of Salvage and Salvation: Religion and Disaster Relief in Asia (Special Issue). In Asian Ethnology 75:1.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini and Dolashree Mysoor (2015) 'Unredressed Grievances under RTE: Navigating the State Labyrinth'. In Governance, DOI: 10.1111/gove.12132.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini., Dolashree Mysoor, and Arun Sivaramakrishnan (2014) 'RTE Grievance Redress in Karnataka'. In Economic and Political Weekly, XLIX : 23, pp.37-41.
• Bhattacharjee, Malini (2006), 'Introducing the Baltic Sea Region to South Asia', Baltic Study Net Working Papers, Humboldt University of Berlin.

Ongoing Projects

1. ‘Sacralising the Secular’: Religion and Philanthropy in India
2. 'Unforgetting Sylhet': Redeeming a Subverted Narrative

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