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SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

A University Established by SAARC Nations

SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

A University established by SAARC Nations

Ishita Dey

Assistant Professor
PhD (University of Delhi, 2016)

Contact Details

ishita(at)sau.int
South Asian University ,Rajpur Rd, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, Delhi 110068
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Profile

  • I am currently teaching the following courses: Social Stratification, Gender and Society in South Asia, Politics of Food and Foodways, and Intimacies as part of the MA Curriculum. I have followed the social history of sweetness, focusing on histories of sweetmaking and craftsmanship in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Recently, I have started to work on infrastructure and social mobility with a focus on migrant journeys.  I have recently completed a research project on Journeys and Internal Migrant Workers: An Ethnographic Study of Railway Connectivity supported by Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group. 
  • Editorial  Responsibilities : Editorial collective member, Gastronomica (University of California Press) and Co editor, Society and Culture in South Asia (Sage).
  • In the past, I have co-anchored an art research exhibit on Smells of Delhi as part of commissioned collaborative art research project on smells by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. I have collaborated on an art installation titled Dawakhana as part of Seema Kohli's solo show Khula Aasman.
  • I am keen to teach and collaborate on research themes of food, senses and infrastructure in South Asia.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Sociology, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2016.
           Dissertation title: Production, Caste, and Ritual in the ‘Bengali’ Sweet Industry

  • M.Phil Sociology, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2008.            
           Dissertation title:  Migration and Entrepreneurship: Chinese Community in Kolkata

  • M.A. in Sociology, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2003-2005.
  • B.A. in English, Miranda House, University of Delhi, 2000-2003.

Research Interests

  • Gender, Food, Infrastructure, Labour, Migration and Senses

Recent Publications


  • 2024. ‘Gastrofeminism: A Manifesto,’ (with Debarati Sen & Sohini Chakrabarti). Gastronomica 24 (3): 1- 7. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2024.24.3.1
  • 2024. ‘Decentering Food Pedagogies: Notes from our Gastrofeminist Classrooms,’ (with Meredith E. Abarca, Anna Romina Guevarra, Dolly Kikon and Debarati Sen). Gastronomica  24 (3): 8–18. Doi: 
  • 2023. ‘Regulating Sweets in Bengal. Control Orders and their Afterlife,’ Contributions to Indian Sociology 57(3):356-376. 
  • 2022. ‘Who Owns Bogurar Doi? An Ethnography of Placemaking and Craftsmanship in Bangladesh’, Gastronomica  22 (3): 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2022.22.3.35
  • 2021. ‘Cadbury weds Mishti: Fusion, Taste and Selling Authenticity’, International Journal of South Asian Studies 11 :47-60 (https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/ijsas/list/-char/en)
  • 2021. ‘Smells, intimate labour and domestic work in Delhi, India’, The Senses and Society 16 (3): 339-350. Online ISSN: 1745-8935
  • 2021. ‘Trust’, Sociality and the Pandemic’, Society and Culture in South Asia 7(1):11-15.
  • 2021. ‘On Pandemic Imaginary. An Interview with Christos Lynteris’, Society and Culture in South Asia 7(1) 175–180.
  • 2021. ‘ Trust and Everyday Healthcare at a Resettlement Colony in Delhi’, Refugee Watch 57 :34-43.
  • 2020. “Fighting” COVID-19 with Anti-Corona Sandesh’. Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies 3:111-112, ISSN 1529-3262.
  • 2015. ‘Beyond zoning: India’s corridors of ‘development’ and new frontiers of capital’ (Co-authored). The South Atlantic Quarterly 114(1) :153-170, ISSN 0038-2876
  • 2010. ‘State of Research on Forced Migration in the East and North-East’ (with Geetisha Dasgupta) in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 25(21): 37-41
  • 2009. ‘On the Margins of Citizenship: Principles of Care and Rights of the Residents of the Ranaghat Women’s Home, Nadia District’, Refugee Watch 33 :1-22.

Recent Books

  • 2025. Sweet Excess : Crafting Mishti in Bengal.  New Delhi : Routledge. ISBN 9781041113201
  • 2013. Co-authored with Ranabir Samaddar and Suhit K. Sen. Beyond Kolkata. Rajarhat and the Dystopia of Urban Imagination. New Delhi: Routledge. ISBN: 9781134931378 1134931379.
  • 2011.Co- edited book with Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury. 2011. Sustainability of Rights after Globalisation. Sage : Delhi. ISBN 9788132106401(HB).

Chapter in Edited volume/ encyclopedia

  • 2021. ‘Village Studies and Possibilities of a ‘multispecies’ ethnography’ in Remembering India’s villages. Edited by Santosh K. Singh. Delhi: Aakar books. ISBN 978-93-5002-720-2
  • 2021. ‘Social Distancing, “Touch-Me-Not” and the Migrant Worker’ in India’s Migrant Workers and the Pandemic. Edited By Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay, Paula Banerjee, Ranabir Samaddar. London: Routledge.  ISBN 9781032158921
  • 2018. ‘Intimacy, Domesticity and Migrant Labour’ in Migrants and the Neoliberal City. Edited by Ranabir Samaddar. Delhi : Orient Blackswan. Pp 282-306 ISBN 978-93-5287-290-9
  • 2018 ‘Health, Standardisation and Bengali sweets’ in Farm to Fingers : The Culture and Politics of Food in Contemporary India. Edited by Kiranmayi Bhushi. Delhi : Cambridge University Press Pp 103-127 ISBN: 9781108416290
  • 2016. ‘Sociality’ and Representations of Everyday Life of Sweetshops and Sweets’ in Pratyaha. Everyday Lifeworlds. Dilemmas, Contestations. Edited by Prasanta Ray and Nandini Ghosh. Delhi : Primus Books. Pp 259-277. ISBN 9384082406.
  • 2015. 'Ledikeni' in The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. New York: OUP. pp 398-399.
  • 2015. 'Rosogolla' in The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. New York: OUP. pp 580-581.
  • 2015. 'Sandesh' in The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. New York: OUP. pp 592.
  • 2015. 'Temple sweets' in The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. New York: OUP. Pp 734
  • 2011. ‘Introduction’ in Sustainability of Rights after Globalisation. Edited by Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Ishita Dey. Sage : Delhi. Pp xi-xxi. ISBN 9788132106401(HB).
  • 2011. ‘Negotiating Rights : The Case of a Special Economic Zone’ in  Sustainability of Rights after Globalisation. Edited by Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Ishita Dey. Sage : Delhi. Pp 177-205. ISBN 9788132106401(HB).
  • 2010. ‘Partitioned Lives : Ranaghat Women’s Home, Nadia District, West Bengal’ in Gender, Mobility and Citizenship in Asia. Edited by Mikako Iwatake. Delhi : Renvall Institute Publications. ISBN 9789521063657.
  • Articles in digital platforms such as online repositories, research platforms etc.


Articles in Digital Platforms

  • 2021. ‘Mistisukh. The politics of Sensory Labour and Sweetmaking in Bengal’ https://thirdlanemag.com/en/mistisukh-the-politics-of-sensory-labour-and-sweetmaking-in-bengal-ishita-dey-suman-mukherjee/, 29 October 2021.
  • 2020. “Book Symposium Tasting Qualities” for Allegra Lab, https://allegralaboratory.net/book-symposium-tasting-qualities-3/, 23 October 2020.
  • 2017. Coordinated a module on “Sweet tradition of Bengal” for the online repository archive – sahapedia. For details see “Crafting Sweets in Bengal”, https://www.sahapedia.org/sweet-traditions-of-bengal.
  • 2012. “Field/s as sites of encounter”, http://transitlabour.asia/blogs/encounter, 30 October 2012.
  • 2011. “New Town and Labour in Transit”, http://transitlabour.asia/blogs/newtown, 29 July 2011.

       Book Review

  • 2018. “Book Review: Solomon, H. 2016. Metabolic Living: Food, Fat and the Absorption of Illness in India.” Contributions to Indian Sociology . Vol 52 ( 3) ,October 2018. 368–70.
  • 2012. “Book Review: Janeja, M. 2010. Transactions in Taste. The Collaborative Lives of Everyday Bengali Food.  Delhi: Routledge. Food, Culture and Society. Vol 15(1), March 2012. pp161-162.
  • 2010. Mathur, H.M. (eds). 2008. India: Social Development Report 2008. Development and Displacement. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Refugee Watch Issue No 35, June 2010. Calcutta Research Group : Kolkata.


Awards & Honours

  • Visiting Fellow, Urban Futures Platform, University of Vienna 1-31 October 2023.

Last Updated : 12 Aug 2025