In the seminar room.
Courses designed and taught as instructor of record at the University of Toronto. Each course engages ethnographic and historical methods alongside contemporary debates in development, South Asia, and technology.
CAS390H1F · Technology and Development in Asia
An interdisciplinary undergraduate course on the politics, technology, and culture of Asian development in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Situates contemporary debates about the “Asian Century” within longer histories of colonialism, postcolonial solidarity, and shifting global power. Topics include industrial strategy and technological competition across China, India, and Southeast Asia; the Washington and Beijing consensuses; populist nationalism; and the environmental stakes of Asian-led development in an age of artificial intelligence.
SAH200H5S · Being Human in South Asia
An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of South Asia, drawing on anthropology, history, political science, sociology, demography, economics, media studies, and science and technology studies. The course unpacks the Cold War formation of “South Asian studies” and examines contemporary debates through both scholarly texts and popular culture — film, news media, social media, and current affairs. Topics include colonial and anti-colonial histories, development, nationalism and partition, and the region’s relation to its diasporas.
ANT374H1F · Rethinking Development
An undergraduate course tracing development — deliberate intervention to improve the lives of those deemed “left behind” — as concept and practice over the past century. Drawing on historical and ethnographic studies, the course engages global inequality, postcolonial politics, and the role of science and technology in the Global South. The 2023 iteration placed special emphasis on information, computation, and design: data-driven development, algorithmic decision-making for marginalized populations, and the promises and perils of artificial intelligence for “social good.”