Mathew A Varghese

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Mathew A Varghese

Mathew A Varghese

Director, Centre for Urban Studies & Assistant Professor, SIRP

Mathew A Varghese initiated the Centre for Urban Studies as a space for emergent thoughts,pedagogy, extension activities, and research, predominantly on Cities and Urban Processes but not limited to these.

Currently he is the Hon. Director of the Centre. He is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP) at Mahatma Gandhi University.

Varghese's research interests are in the fields of political ecology, urban reconfigurations, ecologies in the making, anthropocene and human-animal relationships.

He is a PhD from the University of Bergen, Norway, where he worked on urban processes and social configurations in the emerging urban spaces in Kerala. At University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, he was part of a heterogenous team that enquired into the deployment of ecological infrastructure in the Durban region.

The book 'Urban Utopias: Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal South Asia' (jointly edited with Tereza Kuldova), was published by Palgrave Macmillan. He was a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), and also associated, as a researcher with Urban Enclaving Futures, Norway. Varghese is part of the Sustainable Futures Global network which is an independent network working to foster positive and impactful initiatives across all sectors, geographies, disciplines and cultures.

Research Interests

Varghese's research interests are in the fields of political ecology, urban reconfigurations, ecologies in the making, anthropocene and human-animal relationships. He is a PhD from the University of Bergen, Norway, where he worked on urban processes and social configurations in the emerging urban spaces in Kerala. At University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, he was part of a heterogenous team that enquired into the deployment of ecological infrastructure in the Durban region.

Publications & Research Output

Published Works

Varghese, M.A. 2023. Unintentional Designs in Ecology: The Case of River Periyar in Kerala. The Geographical Journal, 00, 1-14. Available from https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12527

Paradigms of Exceptions: Long Walks across Indian Cities. Cities in Flux. Social Text 1 December 2021; 39 (4 (149). ISSN 0164-2472. 156-158.

Saamoohikashastram Pothuvidangaliloode: Lingapadaviyude Adayalapeduthalukal (In Malayalam). Bhoomimalayalam Research Journal. Book 13. Issue 1. March 2021. ISSN 2394-9791: 146-154.

Vicharams: Evental Pointers, Possibilities and Intensities in Liminal Phases”. Samyuktha: A Journal of Gender and Culture. (Vol. 20, No. 1. 2020.) ISSN: 2393-8013.

Blasphemy rewired: Communal Configurations of the public domain in Kerala” in Sage Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses. Volume: 48 issue: 165-188, 2019. ISSN: 0008-4298

Book Review: "Imagining the Political in a Post-Political Environment". Review of Erik Swyngedouw's Promises of the Political: Insurgent Cities in a Post- Political Environment (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2018). Journal of Extreme Anthropology, Vol 2, No 2 (2018), ISSN: 2535-3241.

Anthropology of Exception”, in Indian Journal of Politics and International Relations (Vol.10-2, June 2017), ISSN 0973-5011.

Materialities of Governance: Sovereignties in the Making”, in Elenchus Law Review, (3(2)). 2017-18. Peer Reviewed Journal of the Government Law College, Thrissur. ISSN 2395-034X.

Book Review: “Man or Monster? On the Banality of Evil”. Review of Man or Monster? The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer by Alexander Laban Hinton (Duke University Press, 2016), Journal of Extreme Anthropology, Vol 2, No 1 (2018), ISSN: 2535-3241.

Book Review: Review of Rule By Aesthetics: World-Class City Making in Delhi by Asher Ghertner (USA: Oxford University Press, 2015, 272 pp.). Summer Hill, IIAS, Winter 2016, Vol. XXII, No.2. ISSN: 0972-1452.

Earthing with Expectations” in Elenchus Law Review (1 [1]) January 2015, Peer Reviewed Journal of the Government Law College, Thrissur. ISSN 2395-034X.

New Religious Affirmations: Performances and Public Spaces in Urban Central Kerala” in Ruhuna University Journal of Social Sciences (RUJSS), Published by the University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka. Vol. V (No.2) 73-83, 2014, ISSN: 1800-3486.

Spatialising the Contemporary Urban Order” in Indian Journal of Politics and International Relations (Vol.5-7, June 2014), ISSN 0973-5011.

Book

Jewitt, G.P.E, C Sutherland, Mathew Varghese, S Risko, P Martel et al. 2020. Enhancing Water Security through Restoration and Maintenance of Ecological Infrastructure: Lessons from Umngeni River Catchment, South Africa. Water Research Commission/ University of KwaZulu-Natal. ISBN 978-0-6392-0132-0.

Tereza Kuldova & Mathew Akkanad Varghese (ed.), Urban Utopias: Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-319-47622-3. (2017).

Published Research (University)

Spatial Reconfigurations and New Social Formations: The Contemporary Urban Context of Kerala” (ISBN: 978-82-308-2285-2), Published by University of Bergen, Norway

Occasional Papers / Working Papers

Mohan, Sanal P. Mathew A Varghese and Rachel A Varghese. July 2022. Global Dialogue: India and Latin America, An Interview with Professor Juan Fernando Calderon Gutierrez. Kerala Council for Historical Research: Occasional Paper Series- Vol- 1.

Book Chapters

Introduction: Urban Utopias—Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal India and Sri Lanka. In Tereza Kulduva/Mathew A Varghese (ed.), Urban Utopias: Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. 1-15, 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-47622-3.

Vikasanam: The Expansionist Choreography of Space-Making in Kerala”. In Tereza Kulduva/Mathew A Varghese (ed.), Urban Utopias: Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. 74-95, 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-47622-3.