Biography

Dr. Aparna Vyas works in the field of social and cultural psychology, with a particular emphasis on caste and gender issues, creativity, imagination, visual arts, and literature. She holds both an MPhil and a PhD from the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her expertise spans the Vygotskian research tradition, critical social psychology, and qualitative research methods. Dr. Vyas is particularly adept in methodologies such as content analysis, narrative analysis, and discourse analysis, approaching them from a critical and Foucauldian perspective.

Her MPhil research, grounded in the theoretical framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory, explores Dalit resistance through an in-depth examination of resistance literature. Her doctoral work provides a critical analysis of the 'great man approach' within the psycho-biographical tradition, extending this critique to the co-creation of political art inspired by student movements, with a special focus on Jawaharlal Nehru University. Dr. Vyas also undertakes a theoretical mapping of the evolution of psychobiography, investigating its transformations and shifts across time.

Dr. Vyas has presented her research at many prestigious national and international conferences, including the International Congress of Psychology in Yokohama, Japan; the fifth international conference on Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s legacy, hosted by ICI at The New School in New York, U.S.A.; and the International Congress of Psychology in Prague, Czech Republic, among others.