Dr. Sreedeep Bhattacharya | Center for Public Affairs and Critical Theory

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Dr. Sreedeep
Bhattacharya
Fellow and Associate Professor, C-PACT
School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS)
sb514@snu.edu.in
B 022 F
Block-Shiv Nadar University, Shiv Nadar University
Gautam Buddha Nagar Uttar Pradesh
India
+91 120 3819100
Profile Summary 

As a sociologist and as a photographer, I engage with various aspects of the contemporary material, visual, and popular cultures. My book 'Flirting with Things and Images: Ephemeral Consumerist Encounters' has been published by the Oxford University Press (2020)

Educational Qualifications 
2004
B.A (Sociology)
Hindu College, University of Delhi
2006
M.A in Sociology
JNU
2007
M.Phil (Sociology)
JNU
2012
Ph.D. (Sociology)
JNU
Work Experience 
Researcher ,
A.B.Design Habit
Fellow ,
C-PACT, SHSS, SNU
Teaching & Research Interests: 

Integrating visual approaches to academic analysis, my works broadly explore the following themes:

  • Consumer Culture and Advertising
  • Contemporary Visual and Popular Cultures 
  • Auto-Voyeurism and Techno-visuality
  • Planned-Obsolescence and Industrial Ruination
  • Body-Image and Self-Representations 
  • Philosophy of the Photographic Medium 
  • Social History — 19th Century Bengal
Awards(Selected): 
2013

Neel Dongre Grants for Excellence in Photography funded by The India Photo Archive Foundation (a collaborative visual project on recycling, later exhibited in India International Centre, April 1-11, 2016) 

Student Fellow of the Media Fellowship Programme, Public Service Broadcasting Trust, 2007.

‘Student Stipends for Research on the City’ by Sarai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2007

Scholarly Activity

Journal Publications (accepted or published)

2020

After the Tourists Depart: Visual Postmortem of a New Tourist Destination, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 7.1. 2020. P 61–78, 2020
2020

Outline of a Prolific Academic Endeavour, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol LV. No. 13. March 28, 2020. P 23-25 (Book Review). https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/13/book-reviews/outline-prolific-academic-endeavour.html
2022

Poetic Trends: Fetishising the Nature and Pathologising the City. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol LVII. Nos 26 & 27. July 2. 2022. P. 88. https://www.epw.in/journal/2022/26-27/postscript/poetic-trends.html
Fetishising Nature and Pathologising the City
2019

Unqualified Medical Practitioners: Their Illegal but Indispensable Role in Primary Health Care, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 54, Issue No. 5, 02 Feb, 2019, p36-44. https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/5/special-articles/unqualified-medical-p...
2018

The Afterlife of Things in a Delhi Junkyard: The Liminal Debris of Consumer Culture, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 53, Issue No. 46, 24 Nov, 2018, https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/46/special-articles/afterlife-things-del...
The Afterlife of Things in a Delhi Junkyard: The Liminal Debris of Consumer Culture
2018

'Navigating the Anarchy of Debris: Observing the Loss of Material Sovereignty', Cultural Anthropology, November 5, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181213213906/https://culanth.org/photo_essays/17-navigating-the-anarchy-of-debris-observing-the-loss-of-material-sovereignty
2018

Peer Reviewed Images: Image Consuming Selves as Visual Commodities, Society and Culture in South Asia, 2018, 5(1) 1–33, Sage. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2393861718787873?journalCod...
2018

The Waste Land, The Indian Quarterly, Vol 6, Issue 2
2017

Lives in Debt: Narratives of Agrarian Distress and Farmers Suicide in Yavatmal and Sangrur, (Special Article) Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 52, Issue 21, p 77-84. https://www.epw.in/author/sreedeep-bhattacharya?0=ip_login_no_cache%3D9f...
2017

Contested Spaces and Resultant Conflicts: Some Aspects of the Agrarian Crisis in India, Review of Market Integration, Vol 7, No 2, (Sage). https://www.epw.in/author/sreedeep-bhattacharya?0=ip_login_no_cache%3D9f...
2016

Crossing the Line: Caring Across the Borders, Yale Journal of International Affairs. http://yalejournal.org/photo-essay_post/crossing-the-line-caring-across-...
2016

Dark Colors of Cotton: The Burden of BT, IIC Quarterly, Vol 43, No 2, pp 56 – 69. http://www.iicdelhi.nic.in/writereaddata/Publications/QuarterlyFiles/636...
2016

Mind your Language: Their Body, Our Villager, Society and Culture in South Asia, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Sage. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2393861716636683?journalCod...

Books & Book Chapters

2020

‘Consumerist Encounters: Flirting with Things and Images’, Oxford University Press, September 2020 
Available on Amazon

Lives in Debt: Narratives of Agrarian Distress and Farmer Suicides (co-authored with Ajay Dandekar) in Selection of EPW articles from 1991 onwards, and is being edited by Suhas Palshikar, Pulapre Balakrishnan and Nandini Sundar. It will be jointly published by EPW and Orient BlackSwan.

2021

Review of 'Consumerist Encounters' in The Telegraph—"This book is a collection of thoughtful essays on a set of commodities and their images, which populate the everyday lives of an ever-increasing number of gratification-seeking Indians in the post-liberalization era. Bringing the material and the visual in a single analytical framework, Sreedeep Bhattacharya examines the changing relationships between objects of individual desire and their popular representations over the past few decades...Bhattacharya’s book is an evident exemplification of the much-celebrated ‘cultural turn’ in social sciences...Indeed, there is much in Bhattacharya’s book that is inventive and refreshingly insightful....Bhattacharya gives us a discomfiting sense of disappearing spaces and forms of sociability outside the world of consumption. Such an understanding makes his analyses of advertisements a profitable exercise where he plots the conceptual transition from the earlier ethos of restraint and thrift to present-day guilt-free consumption and material cravings...Scholars and laypersons alike would find Bhattacharya’s account of the Indian middle classes’ journey from “abstinence to indulgence”.
The Telegraph - Review

Articles & Essays in Magazine and Newspaper

2023

The Violence of Parent and Family: How not to Parent; Some Lessons from Childhood, Outlook, Jan 14, 2023
2023

In the Postmodern World, Intimacy has become a Strange Thing, Outlook, Jan 13, 2023. 
2022

মুঠোফোনে মগ্ন, একা, Anandabazar Patrika,December 23, 2022, https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/essay-addiction-of-smartpho...
2022

Why Online Dating is Like Window Shopping for Humans. Newsclick. August 1, 2022. https://www.newsclick.in/Why-Online-Dating-Like-Window-Shopping-Humans
2022

আমি রূপে তোমায় ভোলাব, Anandabazar Patrika, July 16, 2022. https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/people-are-conscious-about-...
2022

Learning to Forget, The Telegraph, July 14, 2022. https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/learning-to-forget-dipankar-gupta...
2022

পণ্যের ভূমিকা, Anandabazar Patrika, June 3, 2022. https://epaper.anandabazar.com/imageview_63673_44216256_4_71_03-06-2022_...
2022

Social Science Operates with Multiple Truths, The Hindu, May 17, 2022
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/social-science-operates-with-multiple-tru...
2022

Cityscapes and identities: What advertisements, images tell us about commodities and consumers, The Scroll, May 13, 2022
https://scroll.in/article/1021101/cityscapes-and-identities-what-advertisements-...
2022

অমৃতকালের নয়া চিহ্ন বুলডোজার, এই সময়, May 12
2022

Teachings in/of Covid-time, Mainstream, May 6, 2022
2022

Story in pictures: Commodities are increasingly being premised on semiotics that are visually curated to trigger the aspirational-impulse, The Telegraph, April 25, 2022, https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/story-in-pictures-commodities-inc...
2022

বোরখা নিয়ে কেন এত শিরঃপীড়া? এই সময় (Ei Samay), March 17, 2022
2022

Hijab Ban: How the claim of ensuring uniformity is actually being used to divide Indian, Scroll, March 16, 2022, https://scroll.in/article/1019583/hijab-ban-how-the-claim-of-ensuring-un...
2022

নিজেকে দেখি, নিজেই দেখাই, Anandabazar Patrika, February 23. https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/the-selfie-camera-of-the-ph...
2022

Beauty and the Beast, The Telegraph, February 17, https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/beauty-and-the-beast-the-beauty-i...
2022

How Real is the Image? How Futile is that Question? OPEN, February 12, https://openthemagazine.com/feature/real-image-futile-question/
2022

Tagore's Version of Atmanirvar and Akmashakti, Mainstream, January 22, VOL LX No 5
2021

Commodities as Trophies: How Advertisements Valorise the Elite, The Wire, November 18, 2021
https://thewire.in/books/book-excerpt-consumerist-encounters-advertisement-campa...
2021

'আত্মনির্ভরতা' ও 'আত্মশক্তি'র এই এক নতুন বিকৃত রূপ: দেওয়ালে পিঠ ঠেকে গেলে, Anandabazar Patrika, October 14
2021

উফ! এতো ইকো-ফ্রেন্ডলি কবিতা, Arek Rakam, Vol 9, issue 19, p16-30, October 1-15, 2021
2021

কী, কত বনাম কেন, কী ভাবে, Anandbazar Patrika, July 05, 2021, https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/effect-of-new-education-pol...
2021

সাত বছরে রাষ্ট্র যা যা পেল, Anandabazar Patrika, June 1, 2021 (https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/essay-what-exactly-did-indi...)
2021

আর কতো আত্মসমীক্ষা কমরেড, এই সময় (Ei Samay), May 13, 2021
2021

তুমি মোর পাও নাই পরিচয়, Anandabazar Patrika. May 8, 2021 (https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/essays/essay-people-of-bengal-hate...)
2021

বাংলা ভাষা বিপন্ন, প্রশ্ন হল, কেন? এই সময় (Ei Samay), March 11, 2021
2021

স্কুল বন্ধ, পড়ুয়ারা কতটা শিখছে, এই সময় (Ei Samay), January 21, 2021
2020

Wear Che Guevara, Johnny Walker and Gandhi on your T-shirts, but it says nothing about you, The Print, October, 31, 2020 (https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/wear-che-guevara-johnny-walker-an...)
2020

India: A Million Lockdowns, Rock Buttom Healthcare, Newsclick, June 24, 2020
2020

সমাজবদ্ধতার দায় থেকে মুক্তি, Anandabazar Patrika, June 15, 2020

Gender Dimensions of Living Alone and Covid-19, Newsclick, June 1, 2020
2020

Locking Down in Privilege. Asiavillenews, May 26, 2020
2020

Working from Home while being Watched from Home. Newsclick, May 18, 2020
2020

Unmasking an Array of Brands: Consumerist footprint on a preventive shield, OPEN, May 17, 2020
2020

Return of the High Times: Long Lines of Lack of Control, OPEN, May 6 2020
2020

Mass Movement versus Vast Stagnancy: The guilt of the middle class as we witness the mass movement of the migrants across India, Asiavillenews, May 6, 2020
2020

Can Covid Change the Way We Date and Mate, OPEN, April, 24, 2020
2020

Adapting, Adjusting and Evolving with a Virus, NewsClick, April 29, 2020.
2020

Balcony of Big Things: The Theatrics of Light and Sound-Shows, OPEN Magazine, April 15, 2020
2020

Parasite VS Parasite OR Parasite VS Host? FORSEA (Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia), April 13, 2020
2020

Why Social Distancing is a Distant Dream. NewsClick, March 29, 2020.
2020

‘দূরে থাকো’ বললেই কি চলে, Anandabazar Patrika, March 27, 2020
2020

ঘরের পাশে আগুন, Anandabazar Patrika, February 27, 2020
2020

Why JNU is being Disciplined and Punished, NewsClick, Jan 19, 2020
2019

All is Not Well, The Hindu, Businessline, BLink, December 14, 2019, p12-13
2019

বিকট ফুর্তি হলে তবে না পর্যটন, Anandabazar Patrika, December 14, 2019
2019

City of Ceramics, The Hindu, Businessline, BLink, August 31, 2019
2019

Why Kabir isn’t Cool, NewsClick, July 26, 2019
2019

এই ‘পৌরুষ’ই তা হলে জনপ্রিয়? Anandabazar Patrika, July 25, 2019
2019

Venice of Greater Noida, The Wire, July 10, 2019
2019

‘হাতুড়ে’ ডাক্তার ছাড়া চলবে না - Anandabazar Patrika, April 12, 2019
2019

Mistaking Media(ted) Democracy for the Real Thing, The Wire, Apr 07, 2019
2019

The Branding of Indian Education - 'Class' Lessons Outside the Classroom, The Wire, March 13, 2019. 
2019

Eat, Pray, Fly, The Hindu, Businessline, BLink, February, 23, p12-13
2018

London Life, The Sunday Guardian, December 23, 2018. 
2019

ইস্কুল তথা রিয়াল এস্টেট — Anandabazar Patrika, March 2, 2019.
2019

Image Campaigns and the Darkness of 'Achhe Din', The Wire, Jan 26, 2019
2019

Defying Gravity, The Hindu, Businessline, Blink, Jan 5, 2019, p12-13
2018

রাষ্ট্র যখন ভোগবাদের সারথি - Anandabazar Patrika, December, 15, 2018. 
2018

The Futility of Imposing Expiry Dates on Vehicles. OPEN, December 10, 2018. 
2018

Sky-high in NYC, The Hindu, Businessline, Blink, July 14, 2018, p14-15
2018

ভ্রমরকে ঘরে ফিরতে হয় কেন? Anandabazar Patrika (op-ed), June 27, 2018
2018

Catching fishermen at work, July 6, 2018, The Hindu, thREAD
2018

Web of Change, OPEN, June 25, 2018 
2018

Hill of Gems, Gems of Labour - Mining in the Borderland, Kyoto Review of South Asia, May 31, 2018
2018

'ঘাটের কাছে গল্প বলে পাটের কল', এই সময় (Ei Samay), June 1, 2018
2018

'Writing on the Wall', The Hindu, Businessline, Blink, May 19, 2018. P12-13
2018

Pangong Postmortem: After the Tourists Depart, OPEN Magazine (Web Exclusive) April 2, 2018

 
2018

The Ganges, a sight for sore lenses, The Hindu, thREAD, March 17, 2018
2018

বাবুদের ভ্রমণ এবং জঞ্জাল, Ei Samay, March 28, 2018
2018

‘The Shape-shifting Beach’, The Hindu, Bussinessline, Blink, March 3, 2018, P12.13.
2018

‘Love in the Time of Cortona’, Outlook Traveller, March 2018, p102-105
2018

‘Magic is no Longer about Tricks’, THE WIRE, February 19, 2018
2018

প্রাণপনে সরবে পৃথিবীর জঞ্জাল? - এই সময় (Ei Samay), February 20, 2018
2017

ঋণ মকুব নয়, বরং কিস্তিতে শোধ করার ব্যবস্থা হোক, Anandabazar Patrika, July 23, 2017
2017

The Home Coming - A Passage to Bangladesh, OPEN, Vol 09, Issue 37
2017

A Harvest of Distress’, OPEN, Vol 09, Issue 25, p36-40
2017

Men Giving Birth to Goddesses, The Hindu, thREAD
2017

A market you have never sheen, The Hindu, thREAD
2017

Night-Riders of Thimphu, The Hindu, Bussinesline, Blink
2017

From Tea to Chai – The Labour that goes behind every cup of tea
2017

Metamorphosis, The Hindu, Bussinessline, Blink
2016

The self in the self(i.e.), OPEN, Feb 2016, Vol 08, Issue 8, p14-17
2016

Can’t Stop Drooling – How the Erotification of the popular media is changing urban desires, OPEN
2016

Beneath the Iron Curtain: Images of Life under Delhi’s Lohapul’, The Wire
2016

The Afterlife of the Lifeless at Mayapuri Junkyard’, The Wire
2016

The Art of Campus Protests – A feature on political graffiti
2015

Mock, Mock! Who’s Calling? The ironies of outsourcing and the aspirations of an individual, , OPEN, Vol 7, Issue 29, July 27, P 42-45
2015

Left Out, Left behind, Left in Between – an Essay, OPEN, Vol 7, issue 22, June 7, p 30-33
2015

Sacred and Profane, Action and Pause, Bodaki Crossing – Journal of Literature and Art, Vol 1
2015

Phoenix Rising, The Sunday Guardian, November 21, p 30-31
2015

Troubled Waters, The Sunday Guardian, Vol 6. Issue 31, August, p 10-11
2014

On a Magical Carpet in Varanasi, Open, May 26, 2014, p44-48
2014

Museums of Enchanting Past, Millennium Post, April 20, 2014, P IV
2014

Shadows from the Past, – Kindle, April, 2014, p 34-45
2013

Courting Prospects, January 09, 2013, Himal
2013

The Iron Link, HT Mint, December 28, 2013, p 6-7
2013

Death of a River, Kindle, August, 2013, p 72-79
2012

Concrete Campus, The Sunday Guardian, May 6, 2012, p 30-31
2012

Between the Expressway and Yamuna, Himal, April, 2012
2012

Brand Aid City, The Sunday Guardian, Feb 6, 2012, p 30-31
2015

The Romance of Silisher, Jet Wings, November 2015, Vol 15, Issue 11, p 174-176
2014

White Meets Black, Discover India, September, 2014, P 30-32
2013

Because it’s There, Outlook Traveller, July, 2013, p 52-53
2008

On the Streets like a Stranger, Anniversary Issue of Better Photography, June 2008, p 216-219
2012

Woods Dark and Deep, Discover India, June 2012, p 60-65

Conference/Symposium

2018

Presented in a workshop titled Assemblage Assembly', University of Chicago, May 29, 2018
2018

‘Afterlife of Things in the Liminal Debris of Consumer Culture' in the British Association of South Asian Studies, 2018 at the University of Exeter, April 2018
2018

‘Pangong’s Viual Postmortem: A Matter of Change as the Tourists Depart’ in ‘Image(s) of India’, An International Workshop organized by Association des Jeunes Etudes Indiennes (AJEI) & University of Strasbourg, March 19-21, New Delhi
2017

‘Peer Reviewed Bodies: Image Consuming Selves as Visual Commodities’ presented in Visual South Asia Conference, University of Dhaka, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY, 10-11 May 2017
2018

Selected for British Association of South Asian Studies at the University of Exeter, April 2018
2015

‘Mayapuri – the kingdom of morphing’ in 'Urban Experiences: Bilbao & Delhi' – a two day International Workshop on exchange of ideas on the process of urban transition, India International Centre, 10-11 March, 2015
2012

‘New Quests in Sociology: Broadening Intellectual Horizons’, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, South Asian University, New Delhi, August 29, 2012.
2009

‘brand(e)scape: the changing sur(face) of the city’ in ‘Theorizing Asian Cities through Mediated Forms’ in Indian Institute of Urban Designers and Asia Society, 18-19 December 2009, Bombay
2010

Attended a weeklong residential conference on Science and Spirituality held in Hyderabad in 2010
2008

Attended a weeklong residential conference on Science and Spirituality held in Cortona (Italy) in 2008

Projects

2017

Founding Moments in the Indian Academia - interviews with with Prof. Andre Beteille
2015

Founding Moments in the Indian Academia - interviews with Romila Thapar
2012

Asian Cities in the Age of Global Modernity, National University of Singapore
2015

Visual project on recycling funded by The India Photo Archive later exhibited in IIC
2017

Visual project on manual scavenging funded by ICSSR

Bhromonabhishar (ভ্রমণাভিসার) 2013, Premer Mini-Pack (প্রেমের মিনি প্যাক) 2011, Shoreer Street (শরীর স্ট্রিট) 2010 - published compilation of Bengali poems
2008

Projects with Public Service Broadcasting Trust (2008), Sarai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (2008)

Art Work

2016

Exhibited the visual project titled “Inorganic Transplants: afterlife of the lifeless' in India International Centre, April 1-11, 2016. This exhibition is a part of India Photo Archive Foundation's initiative to curate the works of photographers around the theme of 'waste' & 'recycle'
2015

Exhibited in TRIVENI KALA SANGAM (Open Air Gallery, Mandi House, NOVEMBER 20 - 26 as a part of the BOOKART exploration for the 8th BOOKAROO LITFEST 2015, supported by Vadehra Art Gallery Bookstore
2010

Exhibited in Faces in the Dark, 5th – 24th December 2010 at Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Calcutta
2009

Exhibited brand(e)scape: the changing sur(face) of the city – a solo photography exhibition of work in progress, Nov 3-17 in Arts & Aesthetics Gallery, JNU
2008

Exhibited in Mask-(U)-Line - a solo exhibition on masculinities in School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU from 11th - 14th April 2008

Reports

2015

Matters of Life and Debt - A Report Commissioned by and Submitted to Reserve Bank of India on Rural Distress and Farmers’ Suicide in Yavatmal and Sangrur, 2016
2014

Re-thinking the Industrial Disputes Act: Labour Relations for New India