Philippa Williams

Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the Centre of South Asian Studies and Bye-Fellow of Emmanuel College (Geography)

Philippa's interests concern everyday life in South Asia with a particular focus on citizenship practices, state-society relations, Hindu-Muslim relations in the context of violence and non-violence, urban politics in South Asia, marginalised groups and India's Muslims.

Biography

Career

Oct 2009 - Sept 2012 Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge

Background

Ph.D 2010, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
M.Phil 2005, Geographical Research, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
BA (Hons) 2004, Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge

Research

Situated at the intersections of political, urban and development geography my research is animated by questions concerning: i) citizenship, urban inequalities and religion/ethnicity; ii) politics of difference in the economy; iii) experiencing the state, marginality and justice; iv) the politics of violence and non-violence. My PhD examined how processes of relational difference shape Muslim experiences of identity and the articulation of agencies within shifting micropolitical geographies of urban Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India. Through ongoing post-doctorate research I aim to conduct fieldwork on citizenship as lived practice, particularly for young Muslims in north India, explore the processes and scales of "everyday peace" and non-violence in South Asia, and look at the changing nature and experience of India's private sector for minority communities.

Publications

Williams, P. Reproducing everyday peace in north India: Process, politics and power. Annals Association of American Geographers (accepted for publication).
Williams, P. (forthcoming December 2012) India's Muslims, lived secularism and practicing citizenship. Citizenship Studies.
Williams, P. (2011) An absent presence: experiences of the 'welfare state' in an Indian Muslim mohalla. Contemporary South Asia. 19(3): 263-280. Available here.
Chopra, D., B. Vira and P. Williams (2011) Politics of citizenship: Experiencing state-society relations from the margins Contemporary South Asia. 19(2): 243-247. Available here.
Williams, P. and F. McConnell (forthcoming 2011) 'Critical geographies of Peace' Antipode 43 (4): 1-5. Available here.
Williams, P., B. Vira and D. Chopra (2011) 'Marginality, agency and power: experiencing the state in contemporary India' Pacific Affairs 84 (1): 7-23. Available here.
Williams, P. (2011) 'Hindu-Muslim Relations and the 'War on Terror'' in Isabelle Clark-Deces (ed) A Companion to the Anthropology of India. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell: 241-259. Available here.
Williams, P. (2007) 'Hindu-Muslim Brotherhood: Exploring the Dynamics of Communal Relations in Varanasi, North India' Journal of South Asian Development 2(2): 153-76. Available here.

Forthcoming books

Megoran, N. F. McConnell and P. Williams (forthcoming January 2013) Geographies of Peace I.B.Tauris.

Book reviews

Michelutti, Lucia (2008) The Vernacularisation of democracy: Politics, caste and religion in India. New Delhi, Routledge. In Pacific Affairs (forthcoming 2011).
Williams, P. (2008) 'Shock Aversion? Stealth, shock and India's economic reforms' in David Nally (ed) 'Considering the Political Utility of Disasters. Review of Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein' The Geographical Journal 174 (3): 284-287

Conference and Seminar Presentations (selected)

January 2011 ODID Contemporary South Asia Seminar Series, QEH, University of Oxford 'Reproducing everyday peace in north India: process, politics and power.'
July 2010 The 21^st European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Bonn, Germany. 'Reproducing everyday peace in north India? Hindu-Muslim 'brotherhood' and the silk sari industry.'
April 2010 Islam, Modernity and South Asia Seminar Series, Princeton University, USA. 'Hindu-Muslim Relations and the 'War on Terror''
April 2010 AAG Annual Conference 'Constituting citizenship from the margins in north India'
April 2009 British Association for South Asian Studies 23^rd Annual Conference. University of Edinburgh. 'Arresting citizenship, claiming rights in North Indian public space'
March 2009 Interdisciplinary conference on 'Experiencing the state: marginalised people and the politics of development', CRASSH and Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. 'Improvised citizenship: experiences of the 'welfare state' in a North Indian 'Muslim mohalla'.
December 2008 'Chai' Seminar, South Asia Centre, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. 'Everyday Muslim Geographies in North India'
October 2008. The 37th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison-Wisconsin, USA. 'Improvised citizenship: Experiences of the 'developmental state' in a North Indian Muslim neighbourhood'.
September 2008. Department of Law and Governance Seminar Series. Jawaharlal Nehru Unversity, New Delhi, India. 'Negotiating Muslim identities and agencies in a North Indian Muslim mohalla'
July 2008. The 20^th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Manchester. 'Geographies of separation and interaction in the 'Muslim mohalla', North India.
April 2008 American Association of Geographers, Annual Meeting. Boston, USA. 'Examining the question of citizenship for India's Muslims'
April 2008 Muslim Geographies Conference. University of Liverpool 'Geographies of integration and separation: everyday experiences of the Muslim mohalla in North India.
March 2008 British Association for South Asian Studies 22^nd Annual Conference. University of Leicester. 'Like warp and weft': negotiating Muslim identity in the 'silk' industry, Varanasi'.

Teaching

2011-12 Part Lecturer 1A Political Geography. Part II Contemporary India.
2010-present M.Phil Supervisor, Modern South Asian Studies and Politics, Gender Studies
2005-present Supervisor, Geographical Tripos Part IA: People, Spaces and Geographies of Difference and Society, Environment and Development. Part IB: Development. Part II: Contemporary India: The politics of society, environment and development. Part II: Sociology, Political Islam.
2009 Lecturer Part 1B Development
2007-8 College Teaching Associate, St Catharine's College, Cambridge

MPhil research students

Ghizala-Ruth Modood, Centre of South Asian Studies.
Ayisha Tahir, Department of Politics.

External activities

Secretary, British Society for South Asian Studies
Guest lecturer, Prince's Teaching Institute
Guest lecturer, Royal Geographical Society Schools Programme
Judging panel, Royal Geographical Society Fieldwork grants, 2010
ESRC Overseas Institutional Visit. Geography Department and Jackson School of International Studies. University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Sept-Dec 2008
Member, Cambridge University South Asia reading group 2004 - present
Member, European Association for South Asian Studies
Member, DARG
Member, Association of American Geographers