Prof. (Dr.) Jaideep Chatterjee

Jaideep “Swiss army knife” Chatterjee An obsessive compulsive multi-disciplinarian, Jaideep is an architect, a historian and an anthropologist. With a doctorate in History of Architecture and Urbanism and another one in Socio-cultural Anthropology from Cornell University, Jaideep’s academic enquiries traverse questions of design, visual culture, techno-politics, social formation of expertise, popular culture and nationalism. His research on architects, and design as a form of knowledge in post-colonial India has been published with prestigious academic presses worldwide. Jaideep has taught at several universities, including Cornell, The University of Cincinnati, and the University School of Architecture and Planning, Delhi. In addition to his academic pursuits, Jaideep also actively collaborates with designers, architects, artists and filmmakers to work on many interdisciplinary projects. In his free time trains his pack of street dogs along with his German shepherd Norbu. He is also a sci-fi nerd who loves to cook and deconstruct everything, from restaurant menus to milk cartons.

Teaching and Research Interests

History of Architecture and Urbanism, Popular and Visual Culture, Theory of Design, Techno-Politics, Comparative Modernities; (Asia, Latin America and Africa), Anthropology of Space and Place; Anthropology of Expertise, Professions and Institutions; Marxian, Postcolonial, Phenomenological and Poststructural theory.

Publications (selected)

• Forthcoming – The Gift of Design: Expertise, Techno-politics and Subjectivity in IndiaToday. Routledge Press US. (2019)
• Edited Book – With Tania Sengupta, “Architecture from the Margins: Praxis,Knowledge andIdentity in India Today.” (in preparation)
• Forthcoming – “The Question Concerning Archi-technology” in Theorizing a new Agenda for Architecture: Beyond the Canon, ed. NnamdiElleh, Princeton Architectural Press, New Jersey USA.
• 2015 – “The Politics of (the) Design(ed).” Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015. V. 184 pp. 22-29.
• 2015 – Urban Present(s), Inter-Action Dialogues, Lila Foundation. http://www.lilainteractions.in/delhi/
• 2012 – Improvisacionesarquitectónicas el diseño y la modernidaden la Indiaposcolonial”. OtrasModernidades :Historias, Culturas, Identidades. 325-345.
• 2011 – “Registering Architects in India Today,” Journal of Asian Urbanism, Sept, no. 5.

Conferences/Invited Talks (selected)

• 2017 – “Collaborative Designs”, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Dundee, Dec. 7th.
• 2017 – “The Antecedents of Design,” paper at the Indian Institute of Art and Design, New Delhi, Aug.
• 2017 – Panelist, “Capital and The Periurban,” Frontier Urbanism: Tracking Changes in the Agrarian and Urban Hinterlands of South Asia, JNU, Delhi, Feb 23-25.
• 2016 – “Space into Time: Drawings and the Production of Architectural Expertise. Paper presented at the 45th Conference on South Asia, Madison-Wisc, Oct 23-25
• 2016 – Panelist, “Conceptual Frameworks,” (Re)Imagining Future(s): Ecology, Emancipation and the Built Environment, SNU, Delhi, Sep. 22-23.
• 2016 – “Movement, meaning and the city,” paper Our Cities: South Asian Urbanisms, symposium organized by the Department of Sociology, LSR college university of Delhi, Mar 18th-19th.

Research Projects / Curations / Exhibitions (selected)

• 2016 – Present – Preliminary Fieldwork for Visual Ethnographic Project of Afghan Refugee Enclaves in Delhi.
• 2015-2016 – “Ecology and Environmental Humanities” Development Grant (with Gunnel Cederof- Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden: towards preparation of a developing a network of academic and Professional working in the area of Ecology and Built- Environmental Studies.
• 2013 – 15 – “Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction-grant, (with Tania Sengupta and PushpaArabindoo UCL), UCL and the Bartlett, London, UK.- towards preparation of India UK Architectural Knowledge exchange
• 2011 – “Cities that learn award,” (with A. B. Lall Architects) Living City Design Competition, International Living Future Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia.