PhD Title

Domestic Work and Daily Commuting in West Bengal, India (working title)

Research Overview

Funded by the ESRC, and based on sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, my research explores the everyday lives and experiences of commuting domestic workers in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India. Daily commuters are among the growing ranks of ‘live-out’ or ‘visiting’ domestic workers in Kolkata, most of whom work part-time in one or more (usually several) households a day; however, unlike those residing within the city’s limits, commuting domestic workers – who live in rural and peri-urban areas outside the city and who must travel often considerable distances to get to work – are yet to receive proper academic attention. My research seeks to address this gap, building on the work of Ray and Qayum (2010), Sen and Sengupta (2016) and others and foregrounding the narratives of commuters who are variously employed to cook, clean, and care in private households across Kolkata. 

I am currently writing up my thesis and aim to finish by May 2018.

Supervisors

Dr Julie Brownlie & Dr Hugo Gorringe

Publications

Journal Articles:

2011. 'Missionary medicine & the "separatist tradition": an analysis of the missionary encounter with leprosy in late nineteenth-century India,' Social Scientist, 39 (5-6): 48-66.

Book Reviews:

2017. Book review of Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta’s Domestic Days: Women, Work, and Politics in Contemporary Kolkata (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016), Contemporary South Asia, 25 (1): 110-111.

2016. Book review of Svati P. Shah's Street Corner Secrets: Sex, Work, and Migration in the City of Mumbai (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014), Sociology, 50 (4): 825-829.

Media Publications:

I have written about my research interests for various media publications, including Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Huffington Post, The Observer, and The Guardian.

2015. 'The Indian Elite Has a Toilet Problem it Doesn't Want to See,' with Joyeeta Dey. The Wire. 2 December.

2015. 'India's Domestic Workers Need a Break.' The Guardian. 10 June.

2014. 'World Cup 2014: Is Brazil's Sex Industry Crackdown a Threat to Human Rights?' for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The Guardian. 14 February.

More here: www.laurenwilks.wordpress.com

Conference/Workshop Presentations

2017. ‘Does an Outsider Ever Become One’s Own?’ Commuting Domestic Workers and Employment Relations in Kolkata.’ Annual Meeting of the South Asia Anthropologists’ Group (SAAG), 8 September, University of Edinburgh.

2017. ‘Contestation and Negotiation in the Workplace: Paid Domestic Labour in West Bengal, India.’ New Directions, 20-21 April, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

2016. ‘Everyday Violence and Resistance in the Personal Lives of Women Engaged in Daily Commuting and Domestic Work in West Bengal, India.’ Modern Matters: Negotiating the Future in Everyday Life in South Asia, 20-22 September, Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), University of Lund.

2016. ‘Madhobi and Kobita: A Discussion of ‘Honour’ and Violence in the Personal Lives of Women Domestic Workers in West Bengal.’ Annual Meeting of the South Asia Anthropologists’ Group (SAAG), 12-13 September, Department of Anthropology, University College London (UCL).

2015. ‘Gender, Migration, and Domestic Work in West Bengal, India.’ (En)gendering Migration: Narratives from South Asia and Beyond, 20 February, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK).

2013. ‘Forced Marriage in Scotland: Contesting Cultural Narratives and Reconceptualising Agency.’ New Directions, 18 April, University of Edinburgh.

Teaching Experience & Student Support

Tutoring:

2017/18. South Asia: Culture, Politics and the Economy (UG, Honours), School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

2016/17. Sociology 1B (UG, First Year), School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

Other:

2017-present. Project Support Assistant (PTAS student-led journal project), Department of Social Anthropology (working with Dr John Harries and Dr Laura Major), University of Edinburgh. For information about the project and journal, see: http://journals.ed.ac.uk/rethink 

2016-present. Mentor (and previously Committee Member) for the SSPS PGT Peer Support Scheme, a new initiative aimed at supporting taught master’s students in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh.

2017. Helped coordinate and facilitate sociology 'taster' workshops for prospective students as part of the Sutton Trust Summer School and the Kickstart Summer Programme - two of the University's widening participation initiatives. 

2014. English Language Tutor, The Welcoming Association, Edinburgh.

2010-2011. School Speaker, British Red Cross, Edinburgh (facilitated humanitarian education workshops and peer education projects in schools across Fife, Lothian & Borders).

Research & Policy Experience

2014. Policy Assistant, Carnegie UK Trust, Dunfermline.

2011- 2012. Historical Research Assistant, Carnegie UK Trust, Dunfermline.

2011. Research Assistant, Centre for South Asian Studies (with Prof Crispin Bates), University of Edinburgh.

Activities, Projects & Public Engagement

2017. Helped coordinate the Annual Meeting of the South Asia Anthropologists’ Group (SAAG) at the University of Edinburgh with Dr Hugo Gorringe, Dr Radhika Govinda and Dr Jeevan Sharma (8 September). 

2016. Contributor/panelist at ‘Whose Voice is it Anyway?’, a public event organised by Dr Charlotte Bosseaux and the Department of Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh (30 September). Focusing on the issue of ‘voice’ in interpreting and translation contexts, the event brought together interpreters, translators and researchers.

2016. Co-organised an exhibition titled ‘Women’s Worlds’ at the University of Edinburgh with Lisa Kalayji (28 March – 1 April). The exhibition was part of the bi-annual Global Ethnographies series at the University of Edinburgh and was funded by a £400 grant from the Department of Sociology. Along with the exhibition, we also held a workshop on research dissemination and zine-making for postgraduate students in the School of Social and Political Science.

2016. Co-organised a picnic and photo exhibition for domestic workers in Kolkata with Parichiti, a local NGO (10 February).

2015. Presentation and discussion about my PhD research at Parichiti, an NGO in Kolkata (26 February).

2014. Editor at Routes, a collaborative blog based at the University of Edinburgh.

2014. Contributor/panelist at the Innovative Learning Week event 'Understanding and Working with the Media' at the University of Edinburgh (20 February).

2013. Student Fellow at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

2012-2013. Assistant Editor at The South Asianist.

Grants & Awards

2012-2017. 1 + 3 Award, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

2017. President’s Fund, Edinburgh Association of University Women.

2015. Tweedie Exploration Fellowship, University of Edinburgh.

2013. Amnesty International Student Human Rights Reporter Award, Amnesty International UK in partnership with NUS, the Observer and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

2011. Annabella Kirkpatrick Prize Scholarship in History, University of Edinburgh.

2011. Rafe Bullick Scholarship, University of Edinburgh.

Qualifications

2013. MSc by Research in Sociology, University of Edinburgh (Distinction).

2011. MA (Hons) in History, University of Edinburgh (First Class).