Dr Bindhulakshmi P. | Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr Bindhulakshmi P.

Associate Professor, Mumbai Campus, Chairperson - Advanced Centre for Women's Studies, School of Development Studies

Qualification

M.A. (Kannur University), M.Phil. (Hyderabad University), Ph.D. (IIT -B)

Contact

bindhulakshmi[at]tiss[dot]edu

Bindhulakshmi is currently Associate Professor and Chairperson at the Advanced Centre for Women's Studies in the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai. She has a PhD in Sociology from IIT Bombay, and an MA and an M.Phil in Social Anthropology from Kannur University and the University of Hyderabad respectively. Prior to joining TISS, Bindhulakshmi worked as a Post-doctoral fellow at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (Currently Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Bindhulakshmi has many years of experience in doing ethnographic fieldwork in the United Arab Emirates to understand the transnational mobility of Indian migrant women domestic workers. She has published widely on gendered migration, transnational labour, and domestic work. Recently she is actively engaged in teaching and research in the area of critical disability studies which stems from her doctoral research on the experiences of women who have been diagnosed as 'mentally ill' within the paradigm of bio-medical psychiatry. She is recently engaged in a collaborative research project to understand the lived experiences and perspectives of caregivers of children with Neuro-diversity with a specific focus on the Autism spectrum.

Feminist Disability Studies

Gender, Labour and Migration

Mental Health

Medical Anthropology

Ethnography

Book chapters:

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2021) ‘Changing Meanings of Home: Migrant Domestic Work and its Everyday Negotiations’ in Women in the Worlds of Labour: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Perspectives, Mary E. John and Meena Gopal (Eds), Orient Blackswan

Pattadath Bindhulakshmi., Arocha L., Chattopadhyay R., Gopal M (2020). Worker-Driven Initiatives to Tackle Modern Slavery. In: Leal Filho W., Azul A., Brandli L., Özuyar P., Wall T. (eds) Decent Work and Economic Growth. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2018) 'Mobility, Accessibility, and Inclusion: Spatial politics of gendered migrant domestic labour' in Migration, Gender and Care Economy Edited by Irudaya Rajan and Neetha N Pillai, Routledge, New Delhi, 2018

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2018). 'Gender, Mental Illness and the Everyday: Understanding the Interface of Psychiatry with the Lives of Women Diagnosed as Mentally Ill' in Re-Imagining Sociology: Feminist Perspectives, Edited by Gita Chadha and N.T Joseph, Routledge, New Delhi, 2018

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2018).'Making sense of legality: Everyday resistance and survival tactics among undocumented women domestic workers in the labour market of U.A.E.' in Workers Movements and Strikes in the 21st century, Edited by Madhumita Dutta, Jörg Nowak, Peter Birke, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi and Annelies Moors. 'Moving between Kerala and Dubai: Women Domestic Workers, State Actors, and the Misrecognition of Problems’ in Illegal but Licit Transnational flows and Permissive Polities: Ethnographies of Human Mobilities in Asia (Eds. Barak Kalir and Malini Sur), 151-168. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012.

Pattadath, Bindhulakhmi. 'Gender Mobilility and State Response: Indian Domestic Workers in the U.A.E.' in in Governance and Labour Migration: India Migration Report 2010 (Ed. S. Irudayarajan),163-181. New Delhi: Routledge, 2010

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi. 'When the Diagnosed talk: Ethnographic Narratives on Mental illness', in Bordering Biomedicine (Eds. Peter Twohig and Vera Kalitzkus), Rodopi Publication, Amsterdam, NY. 2006.

Journal Articles:

Pattadath Bindhulakshmi., Arocha L., Chattopadhyay R., Gopal M (2020). ‘Women, Migration and Labour Exploitation: Challenging Frameworks’ in Journal of Migration Affairs vol II, issue 2, March 2020

Arocha, L., Gopal, M., Pattadath, B., & Chattopadhyay, R. (2020). ‘Ways of Seeing’—Policy paradigms and unfree labour in India. Anti-Trafficking Review, (15), 137-153.

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2020). ‘Mad Studies and Feminist Disability Studies- Interconnections, gaps, and points of contestation’, Special issue on Gender and Disability, in Peace prints: South Asian Journal of Peace Building. Volume 5, No. 1 (Special issue editor: Prof. Anita Ghai).

Noronha, J., Malik, A., Bindhulakshmi, P., & Karimundackal, G. (2020). Oncology Residency–a Burning Issue, Results of a Questionnaire-Based Survey on Psychological Well-being of Oncology Residents. Indian Journal of Surgical Oncology, 1-7.

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi (2020). The blurred boundaries of migration: transnational flows of women domestic workers from Kerala to UAE in Social Change, Sage publications, New Delhi.

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi. 'Experience as “Expert” Knowledge: A Critical Understanding of Survivor Research' in Mental Health, Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 23(3), (2016): 203-205

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi. 'The ‘Diagnosed’ Body: Embodied Experiences of Mental Illness' in Indian Anthropologists, 42,1 (2012): 39-54

Book reviews:

P, Bindhulakshmi (2016) ‘A Complex Picture’ review of Sarojini N and Vrinda Marwah (Eds.): Reconfiguring Reproduction: Feminist Health Perspectives on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, in The Book Review Volume XL, No. 7

P, Bindhulakshmi. (2012). Review of S. Irudaya Rajan and Marie Percot (eds.): Mapping Indian Migration: Historical and Current Perspectives. In Indian Anthropologists, 106-108.

P, Bindhulakshmi (2007). The Enigma of Kerala Women: A Q2 response. Review of The enigma of Kerala woman: A failed promise of literacy by Swapna Mukhopadhyay (Ed.) in TAPASAM, a quarterly journal of Kerala Studies Volume 2. Issue 3 &4, January & April

Project Report

WINGS 2014, The World of India's Girls: A Status Report. A co-authored report published by Save the Children, New Delhi

Other writings:

Pouratva nishedha samarangalile sthree munnettangal (Women’s leadership during the protest against citizenship denial): An essay written in Malayalam for Sanghatitha Magazine, April 2020, Vol. 18, No. 7

‘Feminist ethics of care: reflecting on Annelies’ engagement with epistemology’, in ‘On Anthropology, Activism, and Affection: A tribute to Annelies Moors. This was part of collection of essays published in December 2019 as a tribute to Prof. Annelies Moors, University of Amsterdam.

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi, 'Disability, exclusions, and the maintenance of corporeal norms' in Caffe Dissensus, August 14, 2016.

Pattadah, Bindhulakshmi. Garhika thozhilalikalum Niyama Parirakshayum ( Domestic workers and Legal protection) in Tharjini Magazine, August 2008, Vol 4 and No.8 (in Malayalam)

Pattadath, Bindhulakshmi. ‘Manoroga Chikitsa: Anubhavakhyanathinte Sadhyathakal’ (Treating Mental illness: Possibilities of Experiential Narratives) in Pachakuthira, November 2004. (in Malayalam).

In MA programme:

1. Women, History, and Society: feminist theories and perspectives

2. Feminist perspectives on Gender and Health.

3. Feminist research methodology/Practices

In MPhil Programme:

1. Theorizing feminism

2. Feminist perspectives on Discipline, Methodology, Methods, and Tools

3. Disability, Body, and Intersectionalities

4. Perspectives on Labour, Migration, and Globalization