Book Reviews by Anushree Gupta
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022
Papers by Anushree Gupta
Volume of content and misinformation on social media is rapidly increasing. There is a need for s... more Volume of content and misinformation on social media is rapidly increasing. There is a need for systems that can support fact checkers by prioritizing content that needs to be fact checked. Prior research on prioritizing content for fact-checking has focused on news media articles, predominantly in English language. Increasingly, misinformation is found in user-generated content. In this paper we present a novel dataset that can be used to prioritize check-worthy posts from multi-media content in Hindi. It is unique in its 1) focus on user generated content, 2) language and 3) multi-modality. In addition, we also provide metadata for each post such as number of shares and likes of the post on ShareChat, a popular Indian social media platform, that allows for correlative analysis around virality and misinformation.
AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research
Working in the digital platform economies has typically been characterised by a corporatised and ... more Working in the digital platform economies has typically been characterised by a corporatised and media fuelled narrative of independence—as a route to financial independence, freedom to determine work schedules, and the positioning of workers as ‘independent contractors’. This terminology suggests a sense of novelty in the nature of jobs and the upending of hierarchies by technological processes. This panel aims at excavating the pre-existing power dynamics between customers, workers and intermediaries. Taxi driving, delivering food and providing domestic care services have long been informal forms of work segregated along lines of caste, religion, class and gender in urban India. What has the platformisation of this work meant for workers, their experiences of work and the opening up of this work? Has the involvement of technological intermediaries led to an opening up and the opening up of this work outside of its parochial considerations of class, caste, gender, religion? The pan...
http://blog.castac.org/2019/08/ladies-log-womens-safety-and-risk-transfer-in-ridehailing/, 2019
In this post, I explore women’s presence as workers as well as passengers/customers in the rideha... more In this post, I explore women’s presence as workers as well as passengers/customers in the ridehailing platform economy, in the context of women’s safety. The related discourses around risk for female commuters give rise to various interventions and women-centric services through female-only cab enterprises and training more women drivers to mitigate this risk. Through these, I will think through the figure of the woman in the ridehailing economy in Mumbai and by extension in India.
This document gives an overview of the project work done with the objective of devising a methodo... more This document gives an overview of the project work done with the objective of devising a methodology to counter gender misrepresentation and unrealistic character development in gaming, in order to aid further research and development of game characters. The project combines the usage of games as tools to study human behaviour with the usage of the data obtained from that process to enhance the quality of the game development process.
Term Papers by Anushree Gupta
A structural analysis of capitalist societies in conjunction with their cultural nuances has prod... more A structural analysis of capitalist societies in conjunction with their cultural nuances has produced a veritable body of literature which deals with the key principles of modern liberalism, namely equality and liberty in different ways. Central to this analysis is the debate between Nancy Fraser and Judith Butler on the politics of redistribution and recognition as conceived in the context of the political left. The theoretical underpinnings of the debate provide crucial insights into the inherent contradictions which emerge from a hard philosophical inquiry into the empirical proceedings of political movements around gender, ethnicity, race and sexuality. While these axes have been considered as points of incursion into a potential unity of left, rallied around universal principles of equal distribution and access by one camp of proponents, the opposition has been fruitful in creating an ongoing dialogue by problematizing the critique and launching a detailed inquiry into the very roots of the said universalities. Within the purview of this paper, the key arguments from both sides will be presented and an attempt will be made to draw insights for the larger project of modern liberalism. Special focus on the intersections of gender and liberal society along with feminist interventions to pluralise the public sphere provide necessary contextualisation for the debate.
The intersections between liberal political philosophy and the theories of multiculturalism becom... more The intersections between liberal political philosophy and the theories of multiculturalism become apparent in the context of the modern states and the political organisation of their societies. While cultural diversity has been a constitutive feature of civilizations historically in and has existed alongside majoritarian regimes since ancient times, the current discourse around multiculturalism is concerned with the coexistence of different cultural groups within liberal democratic states. The meaning of culture is crucial in developing an understanding of the constitution of different groups in society while also playing an important role in formulating policies and norms for modern democracies. The current strand of multicultural theoretical scholarship emanates from within liberalism in light of the dominant group ideology becoming the state's operative paradigm. The main argument of its proponents is framed in the context of liberalism's supposed ignorance of cultural rights of minority groups and argues for group rights and group-differentiated rights as a corrective measure. The rationale behind this argument is premised on a belief that cultural groups ought to maintain their distinctive identities and need not give them up in order to assimilate in the dominant cultural groups' norms and practices.
This paper seeks to explore the impact of transportation systems on urbanisation trends and chara... more This paper seeks to explore the impact of transportation systems on urbanisation trends and characteristics in the colonial city of Bombay. The central focus of this paper is an examination of the interrelatedness of flows and mobilities in a cityscape engineered by colonial and indigenous forces of capital. Mumbai offers interesting insights in this area, given the deep historicity of its transport systems, the aspirational significance of the city in the local as well as global landscape and the constitution of the urban fabric through socio-cultural forces of migration, colonialism as well as a planned approach to urban development. The multi-faceted nature of urban life in the city is complemented by a dynamic exchange of goods, services and people both within and at its boundaries. Situating the multivariate factors for its expansion in the need to facilitate these exchanges is then fundamental for caricaturing its composition. Identifying both global and local factors in the sustenance and expansion of the city in the past provide crucial input for understanding the urbanity in the present. Transportation in the city is closely correlated with employment flows, residential and settlement patterns, industrial requirements and political agendas of planning and organising mobilities around the interests of elites and dominant class groups. Objectives have been wide-ranging, including promoting access and affordability on one hand while also facilitating capitalist enterprise and exchange to develop the primary industrial centre of the colonial government in Bombay. The analysis in this paper locates the historical origins of transport and the planned approach to organising the movement of commodities as well as people in the heterogeneous composition of the city, which often stems from the agendas of planning, promoting segregation and unevenness in the development patterns within the city. The larger aim of such an analysis is to throw light on the persistent inequalities within the city and recognise the 'splintering' of the urban.
The philosophical concept of reductionism involves breaking down a complex system into a sum of i... more The philosophical concept of reductionism involves breaking down a complex system into a sum of its parts and explain the workings of the system in terms of its constituents. It is an explanatory mechanism which seeks to reduce complex theories or phenomena to simpler and more fundamental theories. Under the purview of philosophy, most commonly propounded is the reductionism of all scientific theories to physical sciences, often termed as physicalism or materialism. The distinction between the various sciences is presented in the form of a hierarchy wherein social sciences occupy the topmost position. These include economics, sociology, anthropology and political sciences, with internal hierarchies of their own, followed by psychology which forms the basis of sociology as the most basic social science and is itself based on biology. Next in line are the fundamental branches sciences, biology and geology which are premised on Chemistry which in turn is based on the most fundamental science, Physics. Hence, simply put, all phenomena postulated by the special sciences (which lie above the fundamental sciences) can be explained in the vocabulary of physical sciences.
An exploration of the emergence of Quantum Physics and its impact in the context of Thomas Kuhn a... more An exploration of the emergence of Quantum Physics and its impact in the context of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyeraband's theories about Philosophy of Science.
An analysis of various strands of arguments in presented by theorists with respect to the Industr... more An analysis of various strands of arguments in presented by theorists with respect to the Industrial slowdown in 1960s in India.
The institution of prostitution is the underhanded culmination of patriarchy. In the present cont... more The institution of prostitution is the underhanded culmination of patriarchy. In the present context of continually increasing number of voices being raised for equality and respect for women, an analysis of the practices of prostitution of yore seem like the source of all the rampant sexism and discrimination against women. But one cannot deny that the demand for beauty and pleasure has existed since time immemorial. It is only since the establishment of the marital traditions that prostitution has come out in its essence and grew into the multi-faceted trade that it is today, along with all the socio-cultural and economic implications. Moreover, a superficial view of the history of this trade might not reveal the numerous layers of its constitution. The modern prostitute may have been forced into selling her body due to poverty or due to being tricked or lured into by crook, but Indian cultural history presents contrasting facts and opinions about the women who were then famous and even respected for their skills in this profession.
Response to Arjun Appadurai's theory about 'The Fear of Small Numbers'
Thesis Chapters by Anushree Gupta
An ontological enquiry into the nature of technology reveals the social character of technology. ... more An ontological enquiry into the nature of technology reveals the social character of technology. It results in a centre-staging of the technologist, the engineer and the technician. The training process of these practitioners of technology is of special interest to me. It can be examined through a sociological exploration of the formal and organised institutional structures of training and education. The multiplicity of such education systems and the production of a skilled workforce for the industry, through disaggregating training according to the requirements of the industry, brings the school and the workplace together. Relatedly, the historical and socio-political context gives shape to the institutional structures and an understanding of the background can help sketch out and improve existing systems. These contextual and institutional frameworks are embodied in individual learners who undergo training not just to improve their technical skills but also to develop an aptitude for technical work. A study of this acculturation process is proposed in this research, through an empirical investigation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Mumbai. The history of technical education in India is enmeshed in its colonial character as well as nationalist impulses operating under a larger rubric of industrial development in the country. The study seeks to recognise this backdrop but also to examine the dynamic nature of the dissemination of knowledge, which is subject not only to the state’s strategies but also to individual learners who imbibe the technical knowledge and make it their own. The study conceptualises a vocational habitus which is both shaped by and responds to the learners, teachers and administrative structures, rooted in the macroeconomic flows of capital as well as the local specificities of the institutes.
To understand the system of training and certification process, the study looks at technical vocational education and its particular socioeconomic outcomes. Institutional structures are subject to the perspectives incorporated in public policy formulation. The study will attempt to reconcile these structures with the governing policies. The state’s approach towards skill development for employment and the larger value systems wherein attitudes towards vocational and manual work are formed are of pivotal significance. An attempt to juxtapose empirical social and cultural aspects of the learning process with the vision of technical vocational education has been made. An examination of the constitutive variations in the context of postcolonial India and the key role played by science and technology in the history of modernity in India sets the base for looking into contemporary systems and policy structures.
Uploads
Book Reviews by Anushree Gupta
Papers by Anushree Gupta
Term Papers by Anushree Gupta
Thesis Chapters by Anushree Gupta
To understand the system of training and certification process, the study looks at technical vocational education and its particular socioeconomic outcomes. Institutional structures are subject to the perspectives incorporated in public policy formulation. The study will attempt to reconcile these structures with the governing policies. The state’s approach towards skill development for employment and the larger value systems wherein attitudes towards vocational and manual work are formed are of pivotal significance. An attempt to juxtapose empirical social and cultural aspects of the learning process with the vision of technical vocational education has been made. An examination of the constitutive variations in the context of postcolonial India and the key role played by science and technology in the history of modernity in India sets the base for looking into contemporary systems and policy structures.
To understand the system of training and certification process, the study looks at technical vocational education and its particular socioeconomic outcomes. Institutional structures are subject to the perspectives incorporated in public policy formulation. The study will attempt to reconcile these structures with the governing policies. The state’s approach towards skill development for employment and the larger value systems wherein attitudes towards vocational and manual work are formed are of pivotal significance. An attempt to juxtapose empirical social and cultural aspects of the learning process with the vision of technical vocational education has been made. An examination of the constitutive variations in the context of postcolonial India and the key role played by science and technology in the history of modernity in India sets the base for looking into contemporary systems and policy structures.