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B.A.; M.A.; M.Phil. (University of Delhi);

Ph.D. (American University)

Dr. Riddhi Bhandari

Associate Professor

Email rbhandari1@jgu.edu.in
Connect with me
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8834-8367
Key Expertise markets, tourism, economic reforms, neoliberalization, digital content creators, aspirations, entrepreneurship, governance, state

B.A.; M.A.; M.Phil. (University of Delhi);

Ph.D. (American University)

Biography

Riddhi Bhandari is an anthropologist with interests in studying market dynamics, governance, entrepreneurialism, and aspirations, broadly within the framework of economic reforms. She completed her PhD from American University, Washington, DC, and has been an Adam Smith fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University. Riddhi started teaching in 2017 when she was appointed visiting fellow at the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Currently, she teaches at O.P. Jindal Global University, India, and is co-editor, Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology. In 2023, Riddhi received the Wenner-Gren Foundation’s Global Initiatives Grant to develop a framework for pedagogy of care. Riddhi has published with Research in Economic Anthropology and Journal of South Asian Studies. Currently, she is an affiliated fellow at the Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies, New Delhi, and is working on her manuscript on tourism entrepreneurship in post-liberalization India.

Society, Space, Culture (core)

To Be Human in the Digital Age (elective)

Entrepreneurship and Aspirations (elective)

Gender and Sexualities (core)

Thinking about the Field: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research Methods (core)

Interdisciplinary Seminar 2: Telling Stories (core)

Interdisciplinary Seminar 3: Service Learning and Experiential Learning (core)

  • 2023-24: Wenner-Gren Foundation, Global Initiatives Grant. Project title: Pedagogy of Care–Capacity Building in Indian Academia for Ethical and Inclusive Pedagogical Framework.
  • 2022-23: F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mercatus Center, George Mason University. Project title: Entrepreneurs of the Self– Negotiating Work and Self in India’s Economic Liberalization.
  • 2021-2023: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (now Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library) Junior Fellowship. Project title: Tourism in Transition: Tracing the Development of Tourism in Post-liberalization India.
  • 2018-2019. University of Richmond, Faculty Fellowship for Exploratory Community Research on Incarceration in Virginia.
  • 2015-2016. Mercatus Center, Adam Smith Fellowship.
  • 2015-2016. Institute of Humane Studies, Humane Studies Fellowship for dissertation writing.
  • Vollmer Family Award, American University. In recognition of graduate academic achievements and promise. 2014.

'Pedagogy of Care–Capacity Building in Indian Academia for Ethical and Inclusive Pedagogical Framework.' Wenner-Gren Foundation, Global Initiatives Grant. 2023-2024

'Entrepreneurs of the Self– Digital Self-Help Gurus and Entrepreneurial Citizenship in Post-Liberalization India.' Mercatus Center, F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. 2022-2023.

'Exploratory Community Research on Incarceration in Virginia.' Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, University of Richmond. 2018-2019.

'The Austria, Virginia and Bloomington Schools of Political Economy.' Mercatus Center, Adam Smith Fellow. 2015-2016.

'Humane Studies Fellowship for Dissertation Writing'. Institute of Humane Studies. 2015-2016.

'Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.' Graduate Research Fund, American University. 2015-2016.

'Dissertation Research Grant.' Robyn Rafferty Mathias Foundation. 2014.

Affiliated Fellow. Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies. Project title: Towards a Pedagogy of Care–Capacity Building in Indian Higher-ed Academia for Ethical and Inclusive Pedagogical Framework. 2024-2025.

Junior Fellow. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Project title: Tourism in Transition– Tracing the Development of Tourism in Post-liberalization India. 2021-2023.

Visiting Scholar in Leadership and Ethics. Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond. 2017-2019.

2024. In press. (with Sriti Ganguly). Cutting through the Fog: Imagining Change through Women’s Complaints in Kohrra. Anthropological Quarterly 98(1).

2024. Learning to Teach. Fieldsights, Teaching Tools. Society for Cultural Anthropology. June 11.

2023. Traveling Together and Journeying Apart, Revisiting ‘Highway’. Anthropology Now 15(1):93-99.

2023. With Sriti Ganguly. Book Review– ‘Lies Our Mothers Told Us: The Indian Woman’s Burden’, by Nilanjana Bhowmick. LSE Review of Books, March 6.

2022. Entrepreneurship in the “New Normal”: Pandemic Ruptures and Continuities among Agra’s Tourism Entrepreneurs. In American Anthropological Association’s Open Access e-book series, Anthropology and Entrepreneurship–The Current State of Research and Practice.

2021. Talking Crime and Aggression: Tourism and Governance in Agra, India. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 44(4):721–738.

2020. Waah Taj!: Mediating Agra’s Heritage and the Local Tourism Economy. In Frances Julia Riemer, ed., Tourism Encounters and Imaginaries: The Front and Back Stage of Tourism Performance. Routledge.

2017. Debts and Uncertainty: Circulation of Advance Money among Tourism Entrepreneurs in Agra, India. Research in Economic Anthropology (37):233-256.

2013. The Emperor's Urs. Kafila. July 10.
Email rbhandari1@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8834-8367
Key Expertise markets, tourism, economic reforms, neoliberalization, digital content creators, aspirations, entrepreneurship, governance, state