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Biography

Personal Details:

Rohit's research interests are at the intersections of urbanization, environmental change, and science and technology studies. His work spans diverse geographies and themes, including mining enclaves in Southern Africa, air quality and atmospheric studies in the Delhi region, and changing built environments in Himalayan towns. Rohit has previously directed the Centre for Community Knowledge at Ambedkar University Delhi, focussing on documenting and sharing stories of Delhi's diverse neighbourhoods through participatory community-driven methods.

Contact Details:

Office address: C-304, IIM Calcutta, Joka, Kolkata - 700104.

Academics

Academic Background:

PhD in Geography, Ohio State University 
Masters in Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
Bachelor of Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Experience

Work Experience:

Associate Professor (PPM), IIMC, 2024-present 
Associate Professor (Urban Studies), Dr. BR Ambedkar University Delhi, 2018-2024 
Assistant Professor (Human Ecology), Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Delhi, 2010-2018
Visiting Lecturer (Global Studies), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009-2010

Academic Administration 
Director, Centre for Community Knowledge, Dr. BR Ambedkar University Delhi, 2021-2024
Deputy Dean, School of Global Affairs, Dr. BR Ambedkar University Delhi, 2018-2021

Professional Membership:
Council Member, Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)
Steering Committee Member, Association for Asian Studies in Africa
Executive Committee Member, STS-IN Network

Research

Journal Publications:

• Negi, R., R. Rajput, and A. Dhiman (2024), ‘Engineering Hydro-anxiety: Agrarian Urbanisation and Water in Peri-urban Delhi’, Area Development and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2024.2404017
• Singh, R., R. Negi, A.I. Gonji, N. Sharma, and R.K. Sharma (2024), ‘Past Shadows and Gender Roles: Human-Elephant Relations and Conservation in Southern India’, Journal of Political Ecology, 31(1), 604-623.
• Dwivedi, R. and R. Negi. (2023). ‘Mass Tourism, Urban Change, and Water Access in the Western Himalaya’, Urban India, 43(1): 118-133.
• Negi, R. (2023). ‘When Pastoralists Urbanize: Intersecting Spatiotemporalities of Small Town Himalaya’, Contemporary South Asia, 31(1): 80-93.
• Negi, R. and P. Srigyan. (2022). ‘Peopling Technoscience: Locating the Sciences and Publics of Air Pollution in Delhi’. Dialogue: Science, Scientists and Society https://doi.org/10.29195/DSSS.03.01.0045.
• Negi, R. (2020), ‘Urban Air’, in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 40(1): 17-23.
• Negi, R., K. Thakur, and S. Shoaib Ali (2017) ‘Contoured Urbanism: People, Property and Infrastructures in the Indian Himalayas’, Urbanisation, 1(2): 1-15.
• Negi, R. (2014) ''Solwezi Mabanga': Ambivalent Developments on Zambia's New Mining Frontier, Journal of Southern African Studies, 40(5): 999-1013.
• Negi, R. (2013) ''You cannot make a camel drink water': Capital, Geo-history and Contestations in the Zambian Copperbelt', Geoforum, 45C: 240-247.
• Negi, R. (2011) ‘The Micropolitics of Mining and Development in Zambia: Insights from the Northwestern Province’, African Studies Quarterly, 12 (2): 27-44.
• Cox, Kevin R. and R. Negi (2010) ‘The State and the Question of Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, 37(123): 71-85.
• Negi, R. (2008) ‘Beyond the “Chinese Scramble”: The Political Economy of anti-China Sentiment in Zambia’, African Geographical Review 27: 41-63.

Chapters in Peer-reviewed books

• Negi, R., R. Mehra, and P.S. Randhawa (2024), ‘Researching the “Urban Turn”: Interdisciplinary Methods to Study Cities and Regions’, in B.P. Remesh and R. Kumar (Eds.), Practicing Interdisciplinarity: Convergences and Contestations. Routledge.
• Kang, S.Y. and Negi, R. (2022), ‘The Pandemic and the Southern Metropolis: Delhi’s Experiences with COVID-19’, in Pandemic: Learning from COVID-19 Experiences in the World’s Cities. Seoul: Seoul Institute, 291-330 (in Korean).
• Negi, R. and P. Srigyan (2021), ‘In the Time of Toxic Air: Environmental Contestations, Collaborations and Justice in Delhi’, in N. Kirmani (Ed.), Marginalisation, Contestations and Change in South Asian Cities. Oxford University Press, 118-141.
• Negi, R. and P. Taraporevala (2018) ‘Window to a South-South World: Ordinary Gentrification and African Migrants in Delhi’, in S. Cornelissen and Y. Mine (Eds), Afro-Asian Entanglements: Migration and Agency in a Globalizing World. Palgrave-Macmillan, 209-230.
• Negi, R. (2011) ‘Mining Boom, Capital and Chiefs in the “New Copperbelt”’, in  A. Fraser and M. Larmer (eds.), Zambia, Mining and Neoliberalism: Boom and Bust on the Globalized Copperbelt. New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 209-236.
• Negi, R. (2010) ‘Neoliberalism, Environmentalism and Urban Politics in Delhi’, In W. Ahmed, A. Kundu and R. Peet (eds.) New Economic Policy in India: A Critical Analysis. New York: Routledge, 179-198.

Other selected publications

• Negi, R. (2023) ‘The Odd and Even of Delhi’s Air’, Op-ed, Indian Express, available from https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-odd-and-even-of-delhis-air-9019451/ , 9 November.
• Conceived and edited ‘Ghummanhera: Our Beautiful Village’, an illustrated book for children, 2023.
• Negi, R. and A. Ranjan (2020) ‘Delhi’s fight against air pollution could get a boost if science was decolonised’, Scroll.in, available from https://scroll.in/article/976361/delhis-fight-against-air-pollution-could-get-a-boost-if-science-was-decolonised.
• Negi, R. (2020). ‘Viral Intersections: COVID Life, Risks and Responsibility in India’, Diverse Asia, June 2020. Available from http://diverseasia.snu.ac.kr/?p=4504#.
• Negi, R. (2019) ‘Why Indian anti-pollution activists must take politics seriously’, Scroll.in, available from https://scroll.in/article/943957/why-indian-anti-pollution-activists-must-take-politics-seriously.
• Negi, R. (2018). ‘Regionalizing Air: On the Possibilities of Transborder Collaborations’, Ecology, Economy and Society 1(2): 87-89.
• Negi, R (2017) ’At Nature’s End’, Seminar (special issue on Nature’s Present), 690: 50-53.
• Negi, R. (2016) ‘Small Town Culture in India’, Module in UGC E-Pathshala course on Urban Transformations, prepared by IIT-Bombay.
• Taraporevala, P. and R. Negi (2016) ’Attacks on Africans in Delhi: Grappling with our Prejudices’, Op-ed, The Hindu, 31 May.
• Lead Researcher, documentary film ‘Urban Futures in the Indian Himalayas’, available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ybMAbwhkQ, accessed 17 August 2016.
• Negi, R. (2011) ‘Understanding Somali Piracy’, Economic and Political Weekly, June 18-24, 35-37.
• Negi, R. (2009). ‘The Political Economy of the Global Crisis’, Socialism and Democracy 23(2): 70-76.

Conferences:

Invited lectures

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Department of Political Science, September 2024

University of Nottingham, Department of Geography, March 2023

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Pune, January 2023

Laboratorio di Geografia Sociale, Florence, February 2022

Columbia University, Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, December 2021

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, December 2021

Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, October 2021

Seoul National University Asia Centre, July 2020

Indiana University, Dhar India Studies Centre, September 2018

The New School University, India China Institute, April 2018

Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, April 2017

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, November 2016

Fudan University, Shanghai, October 2015

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, March 2013

Research Interests:

• Urban Environment and Ecology
• Urban Planning and Policy

• Science and Technology Studies

   

Books/Book Chapters:

• Negi, R. and P. Srigyan (2021), Atmosphere of Collaboration: Air Pollution Science, Politics, and Ecopreneurship in Delhi. Routledge.
• Chakravarty, S and R. Negi (2016) (Eds), Space, Planning and Everyday Contestations in Delhi, New Delhi: Springer.