BIOGRAPHY:

Hugo Ribadeau Dumas is a doctor in Geography. He studies urbanisation in South Asia, and particularly in India.

Hugo’s current research project is about friendship. What is the meaning and importance of intimacy outside kinship in contemporary India? How does urbanisation affect the nature and depth of social bonds? What does the practice of friendship reveal about social inequalities? Hugo mobilises both quantitative and qualitative research tools. He has collected data in two small cities of Bihar and Goa.

Hugo also writes about linguistic dynamics, independent cinema and literature.

Beyond academia, Hugo has been practising and researching urban development for more than a decade across India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. He has been involved with an eclectic set of organisations, including the Aga Khan Development Network, the French Development Agency (AFD), and different consultancy firms.

Hugo has been affiliated to CSH since 2021. In 2022, he co-organised the CSH-AJEI 22nd International Workshop “Engaging with categories in South Asia: processes, challenges, and implications.”

In 2023, he was one of the co-founders of Indie Talkies, a series of screenings to promote independent Indian cinema, in collaboration with Alliance Française. Hugo is currently working on a book project.

Publications:

Ribadeau Dumas, Hugo. (2023). “Tāqat, Shakti or Empowerment(s)? Describing the Experience of Power: A Decade of Observations in One Informal Settlement of Patna, India” Journal for South Asian Development, April 20.

Ribadeau Dumas Hugo. (2023). “Strees in the streets. Gendered engagement with the urban space in Hindi films: a quantitative study”, GeoJournal, January 28.

Ribadeau Dumas, Hugo. (2021), Basic Urban Services in India: a Paradoxical Bricolage (Review of the book Quand L’Inde s’urbanise: Services essentiels et paradoxes d’un urbanisme bricolé, by Marie-Hélène Zérah). Books and Ideas, https://booksandideas.net/Basic-Urban-Services-in-India-a-Paradoxical-Bricolage.html

Ribadeau Dumas, Hugo. (2021). सरकारें ‘स्मार्ट’ शहर तो बना लेंगी, मगर औरतों के लिए ‘समझदार’ शहर कैसे बनेगा? (Sarkarein “Smart” shaher to bana lengi, magar auraton ke lie “Samajdhar” shahar kaise banega?), The Lallantop. https://www.thelallantop.com/oddnaari/hugo-ribadeau-dumas-opinion-on-aap-government-advertisement-on-women-safety-why-women-term-is-better-than-sister/