Aditya Anand Singh

human rights, social movements, global constitutionalism

I study how social movement actors articulate their rights claims in law and society. Specifically, I am interested in the discursive aspect of activism and advocacy work: what kinds of discourses do activists rely on? What strategic and moral considerations go into the choice of a particular discourse over another? Does the reliance on a specific discourse equate to abandoning of another? Or, do social movement actors merge two or more discourses to fashion a more holistic discursive “repertoire of contention”; and if so, in what ways?

My research approaches rights as lived, constantly negotiated sociopolitical practices shaped by jurisprudential history, emotions, culture, and political contention. Theoretically, I am influenced by writings of Charles Tilly, Friedrich Kratochwil, Justice Ablie Sachs, and John Dewey (among others, of course). Substantively, my research has focused on LGBTQ+ rights movements, constitutionalism, politics of decolonization, and dynamics of norm-making, both in global and local spheres.

Currently, I am an independent writer and researcher based in India. My full curriculum vitae is available here. I completed my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Department of Political Science, Purdue University (West Lafayette, USA).

Research

My research examines how rights claims emerge, travel, and transform across legal and political arenas. I am particularly interested in the interaction between social movements and legal institutions, and in how rights claims are legitimized within postcolonial and Global South contexts. I primarily rely on qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, and critical discourse analysis of legal and activism materials (such as case-law and NGO documents). [Research →]

Teaching

I have experience teaching and assisting courses at both undergraduate and PhD levels at Purdue University. I have TA’d for undergraduate courses on global environmental politics and graduate-level courses on applied statistics and causal inference. I was also an independent lab instructor for the aforementioned PhD courses. My teaching emphasizes critical inquiry based on the connection between theory and lived political realities. [Teaching →]

Contact

For academic correspondence, writing, or speaking inquiries, please feel free to get in touch. My email is adityaanand9601@gmail.com [Contact →]