Atreyee Sen appointed professor in the Department of Anthropology

India, the largest population of the world, with its many diverse cities, lies at the heart of Atreyee Sen’s research. She focuses on the ways in which vulnerable communities in Indian cities turn towards violent activist movements to challenge their marginal positions. 

Her current project, a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant, examines how such expressions of collective anger become interconnected across the world. And eventually, how this anger plays a driving role in contemporary world politics.

From 1 February 2025, Atreyee Sen will carry on leading this research as a professor in the Department of Anthropology, where she has been employed as associate professor since 2015.

Sen started her academic career in India, with a BA in Sociology from the University of Calcutta and an MA from Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, in 2003. She subsequently held several academic positions at the Universities of Sussex and Manchester.  

Urban conflict remains a central thread in Sen’s research. She is motivated to study communities who overcome socio-economic challenges through creative political participation. For example, she has conducted fieldwork among women in the slums of Mumbai who have formed strong solidarity networks to resist abusive husbands, sexual predators and corrupt employers – sometimes threatening the use of counter-violence to defend themselves.

“There is an old proverb about protest. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. My curiosity in the current research project is driven by an additional adage. If you want to go further, go global. In this era of digital hyperconnectivity, the far-reaching impact of shared knowledge and interactions between transnational political communities piques my interest,” says Atreyee Sen.

Her current EU-funded research project uncovers and analyses collective anger across countries and cultures. This anger can result from economic instability, climate collapse, cultural wars, violent conflicts, gender inequalities, and the failures of democracy.

“Against the backdrop of socio-political polarisations, there is an urgent need to study how and why people turn towards anger as a mode of creating political connections and building cultural exchanges," she explained at the launch of the project.

Professor Atreyee Sen's inaugural lecture will be announced later on this page.