Doctoral Student Fellow
Ph.D Candidate Department of Anthropology, New York University
Cast(e)ing the Next Generation: The Production of Hindu Nationalism in the Indian University
Leela Khanna is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology. Her work engages with questions of social hierarchy and difference in relation to Hindu nationalism, caste, rural-urban relations, and higher education in Western India. Her dissertation uses historical and ethnographic methods to trace how modern higher education in India has contributed to the production of Hindu nationalism. Leela’s research, writing and ethnographic documentary work have been supported by grants from the American Institute of Indian Studies, the Fulbright-Hays DDRA, the Society for Visual Anthropology, and various NYU fellowships. She holds a BA from Bard College, an MA in South Asian Studies from Columbia University, and an M.Phil and Advanced Graduate Certificate in Culture & Media (ethnographic filmmaking and theory) from NYU.