(Visiting Doctoral Fellow, since June 2022 – present)

BIOGRAPHY:

Trisha Lalchandani is a doctoral researcher affiliated with CESAH at École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, who works on the intricacies of class relationships through the (ostentatiously polylithic) religious practices of the Hindu Sindhis in twentieth-century India and patterns of urban settlement to unpack the potential linkages of these relationships with right-wing Hindu political rhetoric.

Her research titled “Hindu Majoritarianism and Sindhi Identity: Temples, Merchants, and the Search for National Belonging.” examines religious majoritarianism, identity formation, and the intersection of religion and politics among Hindu Sindhis in twentieth-century India. The study highlights class and caste dynamics, particularly the local trader/baniya, who shapes the religious economy through temple-marketplace spaces. It analyzes how religious and ethnic identities influence urban landscapes and community reorganization. By tracing these elements, the research contributes to discussions on community and nation-building, revealing how religious and social structures shape both identity and city spaces over time.

Selected publications:

• Lalchandani Trisha and Michel Boivin (2024) “Everyday Religiosity among the Hindu Sindhis of India: Negotiating the Religious Market in the Digital Era”, Studies in Region and Everyday Life, Ed. Farhana Ibrahim, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
• Lalchandani Trisha (2021), “Seeking Identity through Written Sources,” in Sindhi Tapestry: An Anthology of Reflections on the Sindhi Identity, Ed. Saaz Aggarwal, Black and White Fountain, Pune.
• Lalchandani Trisha (2016) “Alienation, Displacement, and Home in Mohan Kalpana’s Jalavatni,” in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (Taylor and Francis), special issue on “Partition and Sindh: Dispersals, Memories and Diasporas,” Ed. Priya Kumar and Rita Kothari, vol. 39, no. 4.