Degree PhD in Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
University of Reading, 2017
Second Degree MA in Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
University of Reading, 2011
Third Degree MA in Industrial Design Centre
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 2007
Professional Affiliation British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Reading
Second Professional Affiliation Editor & Publisher, Contextual Alternate: journal of communication, technology, and history
Research/Current Projects My research interests revolve broadly around typographic history, printing, publishing, and textual communication, and in particular, aspects of design and technology for Indian languages and scripts. With a focus on the history of design processes and their broader sociopolitical contexts, my work aims to span interactions between makers and users across geographies, as well as across social groups. My research interests also extend to working practices and their transformation across technological change, transnational professional/commercial networks, and the dynamics of international collaboration in the development of design and technology across linguistic boundaries. I am currently pursuing a postdoctoral research project titled ‘Merchants of alphabets: networks of typographic design and technology in Indian language publishing, 1900–1950’. This project provides the first comprehensive scholarly assessment of the impact of typographic design and technology on the linguistic diversity of Indian publishing in the decades leading up to the country’s independence. It examines how creative and commercial networks that enabled the material production of text in India’s multilingual landscape played a critical role in establishing language and script preference, spurring the definition of regional priorities in printing and publishing. It situates typographic design – a critically under-researched area in publishing and book history – within the intellectual frameworks of nationalism, mass communication, and technological innovation that defined new positions of significance for indigenous languages in the country.
Time Period Interests 19th Century, 20th Century
Area Interests South Asia, East Asia
Media Interests Digital printmaking, Letterpress, Lithography
CV