Dr Chandana Mathur

    Anthropology, Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI)

    Lecturer

    Rowan House
    1st Floor
    AN1.10
    (01) 708 6083

    Biography

    Dr. Chandana Mathur was educated at the University of Delhi and the New School for Social Research, New York, and has been teaching at the Maynooth University Department of Anthropology since 2003. She is a former Chair of the World Council of Anthropological Associations (2016-18) and now a permanent member of its Advisory Board. Currently she serves as the Vice-President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (2021-23). She has been honoured with a Distinguished Service Award from the International Union for Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, and a Presidential Award from the American Anthropological Association. She has been a Visiting Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Centre Norbert Elias, Marseille (2018-19) and a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (2019-21), and is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna (2021-22).

    Drawing on the perspectives of anthropological political economy and political ecology, her research focuses principally on the contemporary United States, South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. With the historian Deana Heath, she is the co-editor of the volume Communalism and Globalization in South Asia and Its Diaspora (2011: Routledge).     Her published work has appeared in such journals as American Anthropologist, Critique of Anthropology, Dialectical Anthropology, Solar Energy, Wiley Interdisciplinary Review Essays – Water (WIREs Water), among others. She is a member of the editorial committee of the journal Dialectical Anthropology, and an Advisory Board member for sapiens.org, an editorially independent magazine of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. For a fuller picture, see her interview in the June 2017 issue of American Anthropologist, where she reflects on her trajectory  [IR Link]. 

    She participates in two transdisciplinary EU Horizon 2020 funded projects, WATERSPOUTT and PANI_Water, contributing anthropological perspectives (as part of a Maynooth-based social science team) to research led by STEM scientists working on the solar disinfection of water. She also contributes to the InSPIREurope project funded by the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and coordinated by Scholars at Risk Europe at Maynooth University. 

    She has supervised 6 PhDs to completion. Her current doctoral students -- Matjaz Pinter, Shirley Howe (Shirley's lead supervisor is Dr Conor Murphy, Geography/ICARUS) and Bhargabi Das -- have all been awarded postgraduate scholarships by the Irish Research Council.

    Edited Books

      Year Publication
    2011 Communalism and Globalization in South Asia and Its Diaspora
    Deana Heath and Chandana Mathur (Ed.). (2011) Communalism and Globalization in South Asia and Its Diaspora London and New York: Routledge. [Details]

    Edited Journal Issue

      Year Publication
    2018 'The Making of the US Working Class' Special issue of the journal Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 42, No. 2, June 2018. Guest editors' Introduction: 'On the heterogeneity of the US working class'.
    C Mathur and S Kasmir (2018) 'The Making of the US Working Class' Special issue of the journal Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 42, No. 2, June 2018. Guest editors' Introduction: 'On the heterogeneity of the US working class'. Edited Journal Issue [full-text] [Details]
    2015 Special Forum: ‘Marx at the Margins: Four Ways’ in the journal Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 39, No. 2, June 2015. With guest editor's Forum Statement.
    Mathur C. (2015) Special Forum: ‘Marx at the Margins: Four Ways’ in the journal Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 39, No. 2, June 2015. With guest editor's Forum Statement. Edited Journal Issue [DOI] [full-text] [Details]

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2020 'Singing about the dark times in the US and India: notes on situated understandings in our age of essentialisms'
    Mathur, C. (2020) 'Singing about the dark times in the US and India: notes on situated understandings in our age of essentialisms'. Anthropology Southern Africa, 43 (2):133-142 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2018 'Colonialism and its legacies, as reflected in water, incorporating a view from Malawi'
    Mathur, C;Mulwafu, W (2018) 'Colonialism and its legacies, as reflected in water, incorporating a view from Malawi'. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews-Water, 5 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2018 'Redefining ethnography ‘in the strict sense of the term’: Perspectives gained from non-standard, old-new fieldwork'
    Mathur, C. (2018) 'Redefining ethnography ‘in the strict sense of the term’: Perspectives gained from non-standard, old-new fieldwork'. Anuac: Rivista dell'Associazione Nazionale Universitaria Antropologi Culturali, 7 (2) [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2015 'Capability of 19-L polycarbonate plastic water cooler containers for efficient solar water disinfection (SODIS): Field case studies in India, Bahrain and Spain'
    Keogh, MB;Castro-Alferez, M;Polo-Lopez, MI;Calderero, IF;Al-Eryani, YA;Joseph-Titus, C;Sawant, B;Dhodapkar, R;Mathur, C;McGuigan, KG;Fernandez-Ibanez, P (2015) 'Capability of 19-L polycarbonate plastic water cooler containers for efficient solar water disinfection (SODIS): Field case studies in India, Bahrain and Spain'. Solar Energy, 116 :1-11 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2006 'The International Medical Commission on Bhopal: Rewriting the Experience of Bhopal Victims into the Professional Literature'
    C. Mathur (2006) 'The International Medical Commission on Bhopal: Rewriting the Experience of Bhopal Victims into the Professional Literature'. IRISH JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, 9 :19-23 [full-text] [Details]
    2006 'A Passage to Indiana: Reflections on Fieldwork in a Reverse Direction'
    C. Mathur (2006) 'A Passage to Indiana: Reflections on Fieldwork in a Reverse Direction'. INDIAN FOLKLIFE, 23 [full-text] [Details]
    2002 'Twice-poisoned Bhopal: Notes on the Continuing Aftermath of the World’s Worst Industrial Disaste'
    C. Mathur and W. Morehouse (2002) 'Twice-poisoned Bhopal: Notes on the Continuing Aftermath of the World’s Worst Industrial Disaste'. 62 :69-75 [full-text] [Details]
    1998 'Transformation as Usual?: The Meanings of a Changing Labour Process for Indiana Aluminium Workers'
    C. Mathur (1998) 'Transformation as Usual?: The Meanings of a Changing Labour Process for Indiana Aluminium Workers'. Critique of Anthropology, 18 :263-277 [full-text] [Details]

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2022 'A Strike to Remember: Ethnographic Reflections on the Conditions of Possibility for Labor Resistance in the US Heartland'
    Mathur, C (2022) 'A Strike to Remember: Ethnographic Reflections on the Conditions of Possibility for Labor Resistance in the US Heartland' In: Sharryn Kasmir and Lesley Gill (eds). The Routledge Handbook of the Anthropology of Labor. London and New York: Routledge. [Details]
    2013 'The indian state, the diasporic Hindu Right and the 'Desire Named Development''
    Mathur C. (2013) 'The indian state, the diasporic Hindu Right and the 'Desire Named Development'' In: Enacting Globalization: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on International Integration. [DOI] [Details]
    2011 'Communalism and globalization An opening gambit in a conversation between two literatures'
    Mathur, C (2011) 'Communalism and globalization An opening gambit in a conversation between two literatures' In: COMMUNALISM AND GLOBALIZATION IN SOUTH ASIA AND ITS DIASPORA. LONDON: ROUTLEDGE. [Details]
    2009 'The Irish Question in Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' Writings on Capitalism and Empire'
    Mathur, C. and Dix, D. (2009) 'The Irish Question in Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' Writings on Capitalism and Empire' In: Social Thought on Ireland in the Nineteenth Century. Dublin: UCD Press. [full-text] [Details]
    2009 'Noblesse Oblige?: The Fraught Relationship between Domestic Worker Organising and Middle-class Activism'
    Mathur, C. (2009) 'Noblesse Oblige?: The Fraught Relationship between Domestic Worker Organising and Middle-class Activism' In: Studies in Inequality and Social Justice: Festschrift for Ved Prakash Vatuk. Meerut, India: Archana Publications. [Details]
    2006 'Shades of Difference: Towards an Analysis of the Spatial Ideologies of the Orange and Saffron Orders in Northern Ireland and India'
    C. Mathur (2006) 'Shades of Difference: Towards an Analysis of the Spatial Ideologies of the Orange and Saffron Orders in Northern Ireland and India' In: Ireland and India: Colonies, Culture and Empire. Irish Academic Press. [Details]
    2003 'After 9/11: Perspective from the New York Arab American Family Support Center'
    C. Mathur (2003) 'After 9/11: Perspective from the New York Arab American Family Support Center' In: Sharing Integration Experiences: Innovative Community Practices on Two Continents. New York: International Center for Migration, Ethnicity, and Citizenship. [Details]

    Article

      Year Publication
    2021 Challenging cow dung COVID therapies and bullshit state policies in India in 2021. In Dialectical Anthropology, Vol 45, Issue 4.
    Mathur, C (2021) Challenging cow dung COVID therapies and bullshit state policies in India in 2021. In Dialectical Anthropology, Vol 45, Issue 4. DORDRECHT: Article [DOI] [Details]
    2020 COVID-19 and India's Trail of Tears. In Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 44, Issue 3.
    Mathur, C. (2020) COVID-19 and India's Trail of Tears. In Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 44, Issue 3. Article [DOI] [Details]
    2019 Precarious Employment and Political Peril in Anthropology on a World Scale. In Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, Vol. 27, Issue S2.
    C Mathur (2019) Precarious Employment and Political Peril in Anthropology on a World Scale. In Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, Vol. 27, Issue S2. Article [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2017 The Ethnographic Past. In Anthropology News. Vol 58, Issue 1, January/February 2017, p. 26.
    Mathur, C. (2017) The Ethnographic Past. In Anthropology News. Vol 58, Issue 1, January/February 2017, p. 26. Article [full-text] [Details]

    Discussion

      Year Publication
    2017 Two Interviews by Vinicius Kaue Ferreira: Chandana Mathur (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and Soumendra Patnaik (University of Delhi). In American Anthropologist, Vol. 119, Issue 2, June 2017.
    Ferreira, VK;Mathur, C;Patnaik, S (2017) Two Interviews by Vinicius Kaue Ferreira: Chandana Mathur (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and Soumendra Patnaik (University of Delhi). In American Anthropologist, Vol. 119, Issue 2, June 2017. HOBOKEN: Discussion [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2015 Anthropology and the Irish Encounter. In American Anthropologist, Vol. 117, Issue 1, March 2015, pp 145-146.
    Mathur, C (2015) Anthropology and the Irish Encounter. In American Anthropologist, Vol. 117, Issue 1, March 2015, pp 145-146. Discussion [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2009 Response to Eamonn Slater and Eoin Flaherty, Marx on Primitive Communism: The Irish Rundale Agrarian Commune, its Internal Dynamics and the Metabolic Rift.
    Mathur, C. (2009) Response to Eamonn Slater and Eoin Flaherty, Marx on Primitive Communism: The Irish Rundale Agrarian Commune, its Internal Dynamics and the Metabolic Rift. Discussion [full-text] [Details]

    Published Reports

      Year Publication
    2021 Report synthesizing secondary data on sources of conflict over water in India.
    Mathur, C., K. Vijayalakshmi, N. Agarwal, U. Sethia, G.H. Fagan, C. Valatheeswaran (2021) Report synthesizing secondary data on sources of conflict over water in India. PANI Water Research Project, https://paniwater.eu/. [Details]
    2020 A Qualitative Report On Negotiating Water Lives In Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, and South Africa.
    Bates, S., G.H. Fagan, C.Mathur et al (2020) A Qualitative Report On Negotiating Water Lives In Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, and South Africa. The Water Sustainable Point of Use Treatment Technologies (WaterSPOUTT) Programme, waterspoutt.eu. [Details]
    2017 Report on the influence of conflict, gender and class on the availability of water in the household.
    Mathur, C. and WATERSPOUTT team members (2017) Report on the influence of conflict, gender and class on the availability of water in the household. WATERSPOUTT Research Project, http://www.waterspoutt.eu/resources/reports-and-publications. [full-text] [Details]

    Book Review

      Year Publication
    2015 Review of 'The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India' by Sarah Besky. Berkeley: University of California Press.
    Dr Chandana Mathur (2015) Review of 'The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India' by Sarah Besky. Berkeley: University of California Press. Book Review [full-text] [Details]

    Honours and Awards

      Year Title Awarding Body
    2018 Presidential Award American Anthropological Association
    2018 Distinguished Service Award International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences

    Professional Associations

      Association Function From / To
    Chair, World Council of Anthropological Associations Chair 03-MAY-16 / 14-JUL-18

    Committees

      Committee Function From / To
    American Anthropological Association's Members' Programmatic Advisory and Advocacy Committee World Anthropologies Seat 2017 /
    European Association of Social Anthropologists' Code of Conduct Working Group member 2018 /