Tag Archives: urbanization

“POVERY AND GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT” SYLLABUS

In Fall 2023, I had the opportunity to teach a mid-level undergraduate course, “Poverty and Global Development” in International Studies at UW-Madison, that introduces students to key factors that shape the uneven distribution of wealth in the world, including the role of global financial institutions, international development interventions, different aid regimes, neoliberal economic policies, urbanization, […]

TRANSNATIONAL URBANISM

Below are images from ethnographic fieldwork conducted with research participants involved in Dubai’s real estate industry, including diaspora Indian home buyers and investors, real estate brokers, sales and marketing executives, and banking sector officials.

CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (CDS), KERALA

During my fieldwork in Kerala from September 2022 to August 2023, I was affiliated to the Center for Development Studies (CDS) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala as a PhD Research Scholar under the guidance of Prof. J. Devika. The campus of CDS was designed by the late Laurie Baker. Many thanks to Prof. Devika for her guidance […]

SAND ECOLOGIES

Below are images from dissertation fieldwork in Kerala, India where I followed the trail of sand for concrete construction along its production chain from building construction sites in Kochi city, Kerala’s commercial capital, to its sources in rivers and stone quarries in the Western Ghat mountain ranges in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

BILLBOARDS OF CONSTRUCTION

SOUTH ASIAN URBAN CLIMATES: Towards Pluralistic Narratives and Expanded Lexicons

Out now in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Our co-authored intervention article about the need to expand the narratives and lexicons about urban development and climate change in South Asia. Many thanks to Nida Rehman and Aparna Parikh for bringing these excellent scholars together on one platform and powering this endeavor through to […]

THE CRITICAL CLASSROOM

Below is a list of teaching resources that I drew up as a supplement to my forthcoming (2023, 55(2)) Antipode article, “Class, Caste, Gender, and the Materiality of Cement Houses in India“. It’s part of new initiative started by antipodeonline.org, called The Critical Classroom, that aims “to create a commons resource of radical geography teaching […]

iihs PhD Workshop 2022

I had the opportunity to participate in the eight edition of the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) PhD workshop which was held virtually in January 2022. Many thanks to IIHS faculty Chandni Singh and Jagdish Krishnaswamy for their insightful comments on my dissertation ideas and research plan. Please find below some images from the […]

Taraknath Das Memorial Fellowship

I’m happy to announce that I am the first recipient of the prestigious Taraknath Das Memorial Fellowship for carrying out my doctoral dissertation research project in Kochi, Kerala in southern India, “(De)Constructing Concrete: Capital, Nature, and Infrastructures in Urbanizing India”. More details about my project can be found at https://www.indiastudies.org/first-taraknath-das-memorial-fellowship-awarded-to-siddharth-menon/

AIIS JUNIOR FELLOWSHIP

I’m happy to announce that I have been awarded an American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Junior Fellowship (2022-2023) for carrying out my doctoral dissertation research project, “(De)Constructing Concrete: Capital, Nature, and Infrastructures in Urbanizing India.” More details about the award can be found here.