Shiven Jain

Bio

I am an aspiring anthropologist of visual culture, media ecologies, queerness and sexuality, and anti-caste methodologies as they contour themselves across the South Asian subcontinent. I am currently a sophomore majoring in Anthropology and Film & Media Studies, alongside a minor in South Asian Studies.

I have two primary research interests, one of which I hope will eventually take the shape of a thesis. First, I am interested in how queer men in India navigate the rhetoric of exclusion along vectors of caste and religion on dating and cruising apps through both vernacular hierarchies and corporeal practices of kink. I am equally interested in how the many cine-workers within Nepal and Bhutan’s film industries channel aesthetic practices through networks of piracy, adaptation, and resistance to the hegemonic presence of Indian cinema across the South Asian subcontinent.

At Stanford, I have held, and continue to hold, various leadership and administrative positions in the Department of Anthropology, Center for South Asia, Caesura Academic Journal, The Stanford Daily, Stanford Indo-Pak Dosti Forum, Stanford South Asian Society, and more. Additionally, I have facilitated two student-initiated courses in my Frosh year, namely "SLE 99 - Novels and Nationhood: Toward Decanonical Thought" and "FILMEDIA/GLOBAL 88SI - Bollywood and Beyond: Cinematic Visions in the Postcolony." Finally, I am also currently undertaking research assistantships under Professor Lochlann Jain and Professor Krish Seetah, details of which can be found on my résumé.