Gaurav J Pathania

Gaurav J Pathania
Eastern Mennonite University · Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Doctor of Philosophy
I am a sociologist and I teach at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg VA.

About

38
Publications
23,570
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131
Citations
Introduction
GAURAV J. PATHANIA holds doctorate in​ Sociology and currently teaches at Eastern Mennonite University. VA. Previously he taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University and Catholic University of America. He served as a visiting scholar to University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at University of Southern California. He authored his first book "The University as a Site of Resistance: Identity and Student Politics" (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Additional affiliations
January 2020 - present
Georgetown University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
Description
  • I teach "Introduction to Sociology", and "Social Movements".
January 2018 - December 2018
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Position
  • Visiting Scholar

Publications

Publications (38)
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter provides the emergence and practice of Dalit Studies within academia through a critical engagement with curriculum structures that exist within pedagogic discourses. It explores different kinds of academic writings that have prevailed within Dalit discourse by looking into their composition, engagement with the curriculum, and pedagogi...
Article
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Caste is a complex ontological construction. Despite several anti-caste movements and constitutional provisions, caste exists in the Indian psyche as part of everyday life. Even in the advent of globalization, caste continues to foster social and economic inequalities and exclusion in newer forms and perpetuates violence. The available research on...
Article
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The caste system is based on a perceived social hierarchy based on birth in which a few upper castes enjoy the privileges and hold the most wealth, opportunity, and political and social power. At the bottom are the Dalits, formerly called "untouchables." In between, there are thousands of castes and hundreds of sub-castes. Like in other systems of...
Chapter
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In this co-authored essay, two Indian-born, U.S.-based scholars – a sociologist (Gaurav) and a curriculum studies scholar (Nina) – take up the question of the racialization of caste in relation to education, through a consideration of the inter- sections of casteism, racism, and the legacies of colonialism. Specifically, via criti- cal analyses of...
Chapter
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Since independence, Indian democracy has experienced various regional movements for state separation based on language, ethnicity, and economic backwardness. Such movements have not only paved the way for participatory democracy but also brought marginal identities to the forefront. Sociological literature defines such identity movements as ‘new so...
Article
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The university space, the most endangered zone in Indian democracy in the present, is witnessing the ideological churnings, contradictions, and emergent possibilities of affinity among radical voices contesting culturally hegemonic practices. Student activism in general and anti-caste activism in particular offer a complex interplay of caste, gende...
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Caste as an ontological reality has been a major subject of research. In the past seventy years, Indian academia has largely been dominated by the upper castes. With the emergence of Dalit scholars’ writings in the early 21st century, caste scholarship has experienced an epistemic rup- ture. Social scientists have been using various terms to define...
Chapter
Full-text available
The available literature on the Telangana movement offers historical, political, and economic perspectives that define Telangana as a 'backward' region and the movement as an offshoot to this backwardness. The backwardness generally discussed pertains to the economic standing of the people of Telangana. From the vantage point of a fresh perspective...
Chapter
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Over half a century, the efforts of Osmania University intellectual to address the Telangana problem—writing and publishing literature, forming organizations and mobilizing masses—finally led to a the formation of a separate statehood. The formation of a new state does not guarantee the welfare and representation of historically marginalized and pr...
Chapter
Full-text available
The available literature on the Telangana movement offers historical, political, and economic perspectives that define Telangana as a ‘backward’ region and the movement as an offshoot to this backwardness. The backwardness generally discussed pertains to the economic standing of the people of Telangana. From the vantage point of a fresh perspective...
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Full-text available
The strength of Osmania student activism lies in their strong networks between students and alumni. This chapter explores the linkages between 1969 and 2009 generation of activists. It compares the agitational and mobilization strategies of both the agitational phases, and discusses the strategies and nature of mobilization. The changing compositio...
Chapter
For the past five decades, OU has been the nerve centre for every agitation, strike, meeting, or debate for separate Telangana. The widespread notion that ‘movement is the business of Osmania’ is explained in the chapter by highlighting Osmania’s role throughout the various phases of the movement. The university has produced a number of activists w...
Chapter
With ethnographic data, this chapter demonstrates the everyday life of a movement activist. It highlights how different spaces of the university contribute in changing students’ way of thinking and discusses how a student is inducted, trained, and made part of the movement bandwagon. The university has been evolving over the past five decades of st...
Book
Full-text available
The University as a Site of Resistance analyses massive protests that emerged in the aftermath of Rohith Vemula's death in Hyderabad Central University as well as the Azadi Campaign started by Jawaharlal Nehru University students in Delhi in 2016. Taking Osmania University in Hyderabad as a case study, the book provides an ethnographic account of t...
Article
Full-text available
इतिहास हमारी अस्मिताओं के निर्माण में अहम भूमिका अदा करता है. इस अस्मिता का निर्माण हमेशा किसी न किसी के विरोध में होता है, यानी एक ऐतिहासिक दुश्मन तैयार किया जाता है] ताकि अस्मिता और वर्चस्व का संघर्ष हमेशा कायम रहे. इसलिए इतिहास लेखन बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण कार्य रहा है.
Article
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Telangana politics: a Saga of Promises and Betrayal
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Despite having outlawed the caste system and the concept of untouchability in 1947, caste identity remains a cornerstone of social, political and economic life in India. Like other social institutions, educational institutions are the reflection of caste prejudices and discrimination. The recent inclusion of lower castes through the reservation sys...
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Media narratives overshadows past contributions a university makes to the county through its scientific research and building of democracy by questioning the university’s very existence.
Article
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How can intellectuals’ scientific knowledge, produced in their ivory towers, reach the masses, without devaluing the common language and without widening the gap between the intellectual and the public? This, indeed, remains the fundamental question of our times.- Gaurav J. Pathania
Article
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The volume, The Thinking Space: The Café as a Cultural Institution in Paris, Italy and Vienna provides valuable insights and presents the intellectual world of some of the most renowned European cafés. Edited by Leona Rittner; Scott Haine; and Jeffery Jackson, the volume consists of fifteen chapters divided into three sections by location: Vienna (...
Article
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Recently, heated debates concerning food politics have erupted at some of the most prestigious institutes of higher education in India. Students demand inclusion of beef and other meat in their hostel food menu, claiming hostel canteens represent only 'mainstream' Hindu culture. To boycott this culture and instil consciousness of their cosmopolitan...
Chapter
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Essay provides a comparative view of India Against Corruption (IAC) Movement and the Anti-Rape protest movement in Delhi with respect to the role of the urban, educated middle class in both the movements. He attempts to discover commonalities and differences in both the movements which appeared to be mainly middle class – a force to reckon with – i...
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Campus Space in the Age of Clicktivism: Exploring JNU Students Union Elections
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A student of modern Delhi would hardly be aware of the word 'dhaba'. Thousands of Delhi-ites are oblivious of the existence of a jungle called Jawaharlal Nehru University, right at the heart of South Delhi. Despite being surrounded by big malls, continental hotels and very expensive coffee cafés, JNU has always been famous for its dhabas. These dha...

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