Sharika Thiranagama
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Bio
Sharika Thiranagama's work has consistently explored how political mobilization and domestic life intersect, focusing on highly fraught contexts of violence, inequality, and intense political mobilization. This work and broader comparative theorization rests on understanding how people actually live together, often in highly fractious and unequal ways, situating these processes in specific historical formations of vernacular “privates” and “publics” in South Asia.
Her work is based in Sri Lanka and in Kerala, South India. In Sri Lanka, her primary research (In My Mother’s House: Civil War in Sri Lanka 2011) was on civil war, political violence, home, displacement, militarization, family particularly intergenerational and gendered relations in wartime and post war life. This work takes these themes through the lives of Sri Lankan Tamil and Sri Lankan Muslim minorities. Other work includes the history of railways, the BBC world service, masculinity, leadership and popular militancy, etc.
Her work in Kerala focuses on the long-lasting legacy on enslavement and caste in the lives on contemporary agricultural Dalit laboring families, examining caste, gender, household economies, house and neighborhood spaces through their inheritance and future affordances. Articles examine the house, public and private in India, inheritance as inequality, and caste and neighborliness.
Her future work will take an examination of inheritance, caste and family back to Sri Lanka for new fieldwork in Jaffna with Tamils and Muslims after Sri Lanka’s recent economic collapse and postwar caste conflicts.
Academic Appointments
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Associate Professor, Anthropology
Administrative Appointments
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University (2019 - Present)
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Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University (2013 - Present)
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Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University (2011 - 2013)
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Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research (2009 - 2012)
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Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, London School of Economics (LSE) (2007 - 2010)
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Research Consultant, Open University (UK) and ASSR, University of Amsterdam (2007 - 2009)
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Economic and Social Research Council of Great Britain (ESRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship, Edinburgh University (2005 - 2006)
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Nancy L Buc Postdoctoral Fellow, Pembroke Center, Brown University (2005 - 2006)
Honors & Awards
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Faculty Fellow, Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies, Stanford (2023-2024)
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Stanford Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Center (2021-2022)
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Stanford Asian American Faculty Award for contributions to undergraduate and graduate community., Asian American Studies, Stanford (2021)
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Founding Co-Director ( With Sylvia Yanagisako), Center for Global Ethnography,, Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS) and Dept. Anthropology (2019-2021)
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Sakurako and William Fisher Family Faculty Scholar, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Stanford (2018-2019)
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Grant for project: The Local Level Social Life of Global Ideologies (Kerala), The National Science Foundation. Cultural Anthropology Program (2015-2017)
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Post PhD Research Grant, Wenner Gren Foundation (2015-2016)
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Nancy L Buc Postdoctoral Fellowship, Pembroke Center, Brown University (2004-2005)
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ESRC Overseas Award for study abroad - taken at Department of Anthropology Johns Hopkins University, Economic Social Research Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2004)
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ESRC Postgraduate Studentship, Economic Social Research Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2001-2005)
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Davidson Prize, St Johns College, Cambridge University (2000-2001)
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Isaac Newton Trust Bursary, St Johns College, University of Cambridge (2000)
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Rajiv Gandhi Commonwealth Travelling Scholarship, University of Cambridge (2000)
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Scholar of St Johns, St Johns College, Cambridge University (2000)
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Isaac Newton Trust Bursary, St Johns College, University of Cambridge (1999)
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Rajiv Gandhi Commonwealth Travelling Scholarship, University of Cambridge (1999)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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President ( elected twice), American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (2017 - 2024)
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Co-Director, Center for Global Ethnography, IRISS, Stanford (2018 - 2020)
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President, American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (2020 - Present)
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Elected Director, Board of Directors, American Institute of Sri Lankan Studies (2013 - Present)
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Elected Director, Board of Directors, American Institute of Sri Lankan Studies (2010 - 2013)
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Institutional Representative, New School, Board of Directors, American Institute of Sri Lankan Studies (2010 - 2011)
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Manuscript Reviewer, Stanford University Press, Routledge, Indiana University Press
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Reviewer, Dialectical Anthropology Medical Anthropology, Anthropology and Education Quarterly,
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Reviewer, Modern Asian Studies, American Ethnologist, Ethnography, JRAI,
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Reviewer, Feminist Review, South Asia Diaspora, Contemporary South Asia, Culture Medicine and Pyschiatry,
Program Affiliations
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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Professional Education
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Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, Social Anthropology (2006)
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MSc by Research, University of Edinburgh, Social Anthropology (2002)
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B.A. (Hons), St John's College Cambridge, Social Anthropology (2001)
2024-25 Courses
- Bodies and Persons: Anthropological Perspective
ANTHRO 173, SOC 171 (Aut) - Graduate Workshop: Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
FEMGEN 299 (Spr) - Inheritance
ANTHRO 315, CSRE 315 (Aut) - Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology
ANTHRO 1, ANTHRO 201 (Win) - Palestine Across Disciplines: An Introduction
CSRE 33 (Win) - Proposal Writing Seminar in Cultural and Social Anthropology
ANTHRO 308 (Spr) -
Independent Studies (13)
- Directed Individual Reading in Anthropology
ANTHRO 454 (Aut, Win) - Directed Individual Study
ANTHRO 96 (Aut, Win) - Directed Individual Study for Anthropologists
ANTHRO 451 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Internship
ANTHRO 452 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Teaching
ANTHRO 440 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Independent Study for Honors or Senior Paper Writing
ANTHRO 95B (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Internship in Anthropology
ANTHRO 97 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Master's Project
ANTHRO 441 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Exam Preparation in Anthropology
ANTHRO 455 (Aut, Win) - Qualifying Examination: Area
ANTHRO 401B (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Examination: Topic
ANTHRO 401A (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Research Apprenticeship
ANTHRO 450 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Research in Anthropology
ANTHRO 95 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Individual Reading in Anthropology
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Emancipation: Theories and Experiences
ANTHRO 365A (Aut) - Ethnicity and Violence: Anthropological Perspectives
ANTHRO 27N (Aut) - Graduate Workshop: Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
ARTHIST 499, FEMGEN 299 (Spr) - Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology
ANTHRO 1, ANTHRO 201 (Win) - Proposal Writing Seminar in Cultural and Social Anthropology
ANTHRO 308 (Spr)
2022-23 Courses
- A Family Romance: The Family in Contemporary Society
ANTHRO 334A (Aut) - Anthropology Capstone: Contemporary Debates in Anthropology
ANTHRO 193 (Spr) - Ethnicity and Violence: Anthropological Perspectives
ANTHRO 27N (Aut) - Strangers and Intimates: Exploring Public Life
ANTHRO 387 (Spr)
- Emancipation: Theories and Experiences
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Miray Cakiroglu, Elix Colón, Byron Gray, Munir Gur, Rachael Healy, Saad Lakhani, Isabel Salovaara, shandana waheed -
Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Alisha Cherian, Zaith Lopez, Alexa Russo -
Doctoral Dissertation Co-Advisor (AC)
Salma Alkhoudi, Tiên-Dung Hà, Shantanu Nevrekar -
Doctoral (Program)
Alisha Cherian, Deniz Demir, Huzaafa Huzaafa, Shantanu Nevrekar, Sunidhi Pacharne, Alexa Russo, Marie Smidstrup
All Publications
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The names of the leader: the political deification of prabhakaran
RELIGION
2022
View details for DOI 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2094785
View details for Web of Science ID 000826245700001
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Figures of Menace: Militarisation in Post-War Sri Lanka
SOUTH ASIA-JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES
2022
View details for DOI 10.1080/00856401.2022.2017231
View details for Web of Science ID 000747573500001
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Protestant Textuality and the Tamil Modern: Political Oratory and the Social Imaginary in South Asia (Book Review)
ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
2021; 94 (4): 725-735
View details for Web of Science ID 000753354900006
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Afterword: A "Division of Laborers"
ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW
2020; 41 (2): 133–37
View details for DOI 10.1111/awr.12200
View details for Web of Science ID 000585327500008
- The Leader as Image: Prabhakaran and the Visual Regimes of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam”. Tasveerghar: A Digital Network of South Asian Popular Visual Culture . 2020
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Respect Your Neighbor as Yourself: Neighborliness, Caste, and Community in South India
COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN SOCIETY AND HISTORY
2019; 61 (2): 269–300
View details for DOI 10.1017/S0010417519000057
View details for Web of Science ID 000466760200003
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Rural Civilities: Caste, Gender and Public Life in Kerala
SOUTH ASIA-JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES
2019; 42 (2): 310–27
View details for DOI 10.1080/00856401.2019.1582190
View details for Web of Science ID 000469098800006
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The civility of strangers? Caste, ethnicity, and living together in postwar Jaffna, Sri Lanka
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY
2018; 18 (2-3): 357–81
View details for DOI 10.1177/1463499617744476
View details for Web of Science ID 000445712600009
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Introduction: Whose civility?
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY
2018; 18 (2-3): 153–74
View details for DOI 10.1177/1463499618780870
View details for Web of Science ID 000445712600001
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Making Tigers from Tamils: Long-Distance Nationalism and Sri Lankan Tamils in Toronto
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
2014; 116 (2): 265-278
View details for DOI 10.1111/aman.12099
View details for Web of Science ID 000337535600003
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Sri Lanka's Lingering State of War
CURRENT HISTORY
2014; 113 (762): 163-164
View details for Web of Science ID 000342187100006
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The Self at a Time of War in Northern Sri Lanka
JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY
2013; 26 (1): 19-40
View details for DOI 10.1111/johs.12013
View details for Web of Science ID 000316633500002
- Reconciliation, Popular Aspirations, and the State Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 2013; 4 (1):
- Claiming the State: Reconciliation Processes in Sri Lanka Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 2013; 4 (1)
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'A Railway to the Moon': The post-histories of a Sri Lankan railway line
MODERN ASIAN STUDIES
2012; 46: 221-248
View details for DOI 10.1017/S0026749X11000631
View details for Web of Science ID 000299715200010
- Muslims, Ethnicity and Minority Identity in Sri Lanka Religion and Politics in South Asia edited by Jaffrelot, C., Arif, A. Purushartha, Sciences Sociales en Asie du Sud. Paris: EHESS. 2012
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Ethnic entanglements: The BBC Tamil and Sinhala services amidst the civil war in Sri Lanka
JOURNALISM
2011; 12 (2): 153-169
View details for DOI 10.1177/1464884910388584
View details for Web of Science ID 000208784200003
- In My Mother's House: Civil War in Sri Lanka Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2011
- Spectres of Treason Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy and the Ethics of State Building edited by Thiranagama, S., Kelly, T. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2010
- Praise of Traitors: Intimacy, Betrayal and the Sri Lankan Tamil Community Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy and the Ethics of State-Buildin edited by Thiranagama, S., Kelly, T. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2010
- Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy and the Ethics of State-Building edited by Kelly, T., Thiranagama, S. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2010
- South Asian Diasporas and the BBC World Services: Contacts, Conflicts, and Contestations South Asian Diaspora edited by Gillespie, M., Thiranagama, S., Pinkerton, A., Baumann, G. 2010
- Partitioning the BBC: From Colonial to Postcolonial Broadcaster South Asian Diaspora 2010; 2 (1): 39-55
- A New Morning? Reoccupying home in the aftermath of violence in Sri Lanka Struggles for Home: Violence, Hope, and the Movement of People edited by Jansen, S., Löfving, S. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. 2009
- Review of Ritualizing on the Boundaries: Continuity and Innovation in the Tamil Diaspora by F.W. Clothey Religion 2008; 30: 195-218
- The Eviction of Tamils and Muslims from Jaffna Daily Mirror 2008
- The right of return to Jaffna Himal South Asian 2008; 21 (1)
- The Shadow Diaspora: Sri Lankan Tamils in Colombo Infochange Agenda 2008
- A New Morning? Reoccupying home in the aftermath of violence in Sri Lanka Focaal: European Journal of Anthropology 2007; 49 (1): 45-61
- Moving on? Memory, generation and home for displaced Northern Muslims in Sri Lanka Ghosts of Memory: Essays on Remembrance and Relatedness edited by Carsten, J. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2007
- A Dream of Return: Northern Muslims in Sri Lanka ISIM Review 2007; 20