Prarthana Saikia
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Citizenship studies
- Indigeneity and nationalism
- Social movements
- Village studies
- Ethnography and literature
- Multispecies ethnography
Biography
Trained as an anthropologist, Prarthana Saikia earned a PhD from IIT Guwahati, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences; the thesis title is ‘Nationality, Citizenship and Assam: A Political History Since 1947’. Prarthana has a master’s degree in Anthropology (Social Anthropology) from University of Delhi.
She taught in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai before joining the University.
Her research interests are in the fields of citizenship studies, indigeneity and understanding nationalism, agrarian and village studies, social movements, development and Northeast India studies, etc. Prarthana’s research draws from interdisciplinary methodologies, and dwells in areas of historical anthropology, political anthropology, economic anthropology, ethnography and literature.
Her current research dwells in the area of multispecies ethnography.
Prarthana Saikia writes fiction. To her credit, she has four publications (one short story collection and three novels in Assamese). One of her novels, “Jatadhari” (Assamese), won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2016.
Courses
Indigeneity and Belonging in Contemporary India
Understanding the various historical circumstances and the different terminologies of indigenous subjectivity and collective reference used in India today
Publications
Journal Articles
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2024). Self-determination and Integration: A Site of Negotiation and a Village Named Panbari. Sociological Bulletin. October-December 2024. Vol. 73 Issue No. 4. pp. 507 – 518. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229241287462.
- Saikia Prarthana. (2023). Citizenship, Nationality, Discord, Accord and Assam: A Brief History. Economic and Political Weekly. 10 June 2023, Vol. 58 Issue No. 23.
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2023). Assam, a Site of Extraction and the (In)dispensible Other. The Seminar. May 2023.
Book Chapters
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2018). Parallel Perspectives in Ethnography and Literature: Reflections from Assamese Literature. In Michelangelo Paganopoulos (Ed.) In Between Fiction and Non-Fiction: Reflections on Poetics of Ethnography in Literature and Film. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle UK.
Newspaper Articles
- Saikia, Prarthana. (8 August 2012). ‘Living Literature’, The Assam Tribune (Mosaic), Guwahati.
- Saikia, Prarthana. (20 March 2022). Anubad, Jati Aru Jatiyatabad, Amar Asom.
Magazine Articles
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2022). ‘Hinduism: A Way of Life or the Only Way of Life, LiveWire, 15 March, 2022; https://livewire.thewire.in/personal/hinduism-a-way-of-life-or-the-only-way-of-life/
- Saikia, Prarthana. (March 2019). Axom Andolan: Patabhumi, Sthaniya Prekkhapat aru Anupasthit Anshidar. Ninth Column. (Translated into Bengali, original: Assamese).
- Barman Prasun & Saikia, Prarthana (Transcription by Prarthana Saikia). (March 2019). Wholetimerer Moto Kaaj Kore Gelam. Interview with Abdul Hai Nagori, (Former President of A.A.M.S.U. and M.L.A, Assam Legislative Assembly), Ninth Column (Translated into Bengali).
- Saikia, Prarthana. (16−31 July 2007) ‘Mrityu: Chetonar Pora Bastoboloi’, Satsori. Guwahati.
Literary Publications
- Saikia Prarthana. (2022). Pharaoh. Banalata: Dibrugarh. (a work of fiction spread across three parallel monologues).
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2021; 2011)). Jatadhari. Banalata: Dibrugarh. (Novel, Sahitya Academi Yuva Puraskar 2016,
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2016 (2009)). Platform ot Etiya Kono Nai. Banalata: Dibrugarh. (Novel)
- Saikia, Prarthana. (2008). Jatra Enekoye. Aank-Baak: Guwahati. (a short story collection in Assamese).
Working Papers and Chapters
- Saikia, Prarthana. Confronting Citizenship: Students of Assam and the Assam Movement.
- Saikia, Prarthana. Mobility, Migration, Displacement and Identity: The Char Dwellers of Assam. Upcoming in an edited Book, Rutledge.
- Saikia, Prarthana. Many Lives of Silghanriya (Labeo dyocheilus): Nature, Culture and a Multispecies Affair of Seasonal Migration. Preparing under the project ‘Multispecies Migration in Climate Induced Himalayas’ by Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).