Assa Doron, BA (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), MA (prelim.), PhD (La Trobe)
Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology and the Director’s Section at RSPAS

Email: assa.doron@anu.edu.au

Biographical Statement

Assa Doron joined ANU in August 2007. He obtained his BA in History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and PhD in social anthropology from La Trobe University, Melbourne. He held a postdoctoral fellowship in the National University of Singapore at the South Asian Studies Program. He is currently working on a manuscript for publication on the ritual economy of Varanasi (Banaras), which is based on extensive field work and archival research conducted in India.

Research Interests

The anthropology of contemporary India, and South Asia and Southeast Asia more generally; development studies and contemporary health practices amongst middle class Indians; urbanization; modernity, and identity politics; religion; tourism studies; postcolonial studies, ethnographic practice, Diaspora studies.

Key Publications

• Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges: Passages of Resistance, Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate (2008, In Press)
• The Needle and the Sword: boatmen, priests and the ritual economy of Varanasi. South Asia, Journal of South Asian Studies, 29(3):345-367, 2006.
• Bali: A Diapora in the Making?, The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora V. Lal, Brij, P. Reeves, and R. Rai, eds. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2006.
• Encountering the 'Other': Pilgrims, Tourists and Boatmen in the City of Varanasi (Banaras), The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 16(2):157-178, 2005

Career Highlights

Fieldwork in Banaras, Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National University of Singapore, Convener of the ANU South Asian Summer Study School at RSPAS (Asia Pacific Week)