CURRENT PROJECTS
Caste and Slavery (2025-28)
Antislavery campaigners recognise that workers’ vulnerability to violent labour abuse on the Indian subcontinent often links to caste, but assume that "modern slavery" can be tackled independently of the struggle against caste as a system of social stratification.
Using archival research, rhetorical analysis, and ethnography, this project explores the historical co-constitution of caste and slavery, its appropriation/ erasure in modern slavery campaigns, and the lived experience of Dalit sugar workers to interrogate whether caste should be theorised not merely as a background variable, but as a system that actively produces the violent labour conditions denounced by campaigners as “modern slavery”.
The key objectives of this project are to:
1) Explore the colonial and Eurocentric logics that inform the discursive construction of “modern slavery” on the Indian subcontinent in antislavery campaigns;
2) Investigate Dalit workers' experiences of modern slavery interventions, focusing on the impact (or lack thereof) on their broader claims to rights and dignity; and
3) Theorise the significance of caste for critical scholarship on slavery and “modern slavery”.
Technology and "Modern Slavery"
(2025-26)
The rise of technological tools to address what is perceived as “modern slavery” has led to the emergence of a growing industry. This space is populated by a wide range of actors, organisations, and initiatives, all claiming to address exploitation through the use of technology.
In collaboration with Sharmila Parmanand and Aswad Hussain, this project asks: How is technology discursively constructed as a credible and necessary solution to modern slavery?
We critically examine the rise of techno-humanitarianism, investigating the moral economy of digital interventions. Through a critical discourse analysis, we aim to understand how these technologies gain legitimacy over time, and what debates and power dynamics shape their adoption.