Dr. Prithiraj Borah
Dr. Prithiraj Borah completed his Post-Doctoral research and doctoral studies in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Subsequently, he held the position of Assistant Professor of Sociology within the School of Social Sciences and Languages at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore from Feb 2023-May 2025. His scholarly interests encompass plantation politics with particular emphasis on trade union and student union dynamics. Additionally, his research extends to the domains of tribal and adivasi studies in contemporary South Asia.
Dr. Borah has published numerous scholarly articles in prestigious academic journals including Economic and Political Weekly, as well as publications by Springer, Brill and Taylor and Francis. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he was conferred the Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation research grant in 2020. Furthermore, he served as a principal investigator for a research initiative funded by the Indian Foundation for the Arts during the period 2023-2024.
- Post-doctoral fellow in Sociology in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay, from 20th October 2021 -20th October 2022.
- PhD (2021) in Sociology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Title of the thesis: ‘From trade union to student association: A study of political mobilization among the adivasis of Assam’s tea plantation.”
- Master of Philosophy M.Phil. (2015) in Sociology from Sikkim University, Gangtok. Title of the thesis: “The impact of trade unions on tea plantation workers: A study of Dibrugarh district in Assam.”
- Master of Arts (2013) Title of the thesis: “National Environmental Policy 2006: A critical study with special reference to Assam.”
Plantation histories, Trade union politics and Gender, Student movements in South Asia, Anthropology in Northeast India.
Awards:
Excellence in PhD (Best Thesis Award) ‘Naik and Rastogi award in excellence in PhD research’ from IIT Bombay 2023.
Grants and Projects
• The Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Grants for Young Researchers from the Northeast 2021-22 (Completed). Project titled: The Baghjan Tragedy: Gender and Public spaces in the time of a disaster and a pandemic.
• India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) Project 560 2023-24 (Completed): Project Title: Food, Belongingness and neighbourhood: The ‘Ethnic’ Northeastern food preparation in Kalyan Nagar, Bengaluru.
• Borah, Prithiraj & Rowena Robinson (2022). “Adivasi Mahasabhas: Locating gender in the adivasi movements in Assam”. Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 57 (49) pp 32- 38.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2021). “Insanity and colonial knowledge: A study of ‘tea-coolies’ in Tezpur Lunatic Asylum, 1879-96.” Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 56(73) pp 11-15.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2025). “Albert Einstein, Swastika and Visuality: A study of exclusion within a university of Assam.” Research in the Social Scientific study of Religion (Special 2issue on Sociology of Religion or Belief in South Asia Vol. 43)
• Kalita, Pooja & Borah, Prithiraj (2023). “The Baghjan Tragedy: Gender and Public spaces in the time of a disaster and a pandemic”. (Journal Article) Zubaan Publication.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2024). “Rise of Populism and Right-wing politics in Assam.” In Encyclopedia of New Populism and Responses in the 21st Century. London: Springer.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2025). “Plantation worlds by Maan Baruah (Book Review)” Asian Ethnicity, 1-3.
• Borah, Prithiraj & Rowena Robinson. (Accepted and upcoming 2025). ‘Adivasi students in Assam: Activism and representation inside/outside university politics’. In Minorities on Campus: Discrimination, Equality and politics of Nationalism in Indian Higher
Education edited by Ashok Kumar Mocherla and Sariya Cheruvallil- Contractor. London: Oxford University Press.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2022). “Tales from Assam’s tea gardens: When humour becomes resistance in the everyday life-world of labourers”. In Humour and the performance of power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in unstable times edited by Sasanka Perera and Dev Pathak. New Delhi: Routledge.
• Borah, Prithiraj, and Rowena Robinson (2021). “Mai-baaps and Minis: Spatiality, Visuality and Materiality in Assam’s Tea gardens”. In Materiality and Visuality in Northeast India-An interdisciplinary perspective edited by Tiplut Nongbri and Rashi Bhargava. Singapore: Springer.
• Borah, Prithiraj (2021). “Colonial construction of the ‘lazy-native’ and formation of Assam’s tea industry”. In Communities, Institutions and Histories of India’s Northeast edited by Charisma Lepcha and Uttam Lal. London: Routledge.
• Sarma, Angshuman, & Prithiraj Borah (2016). “The impact of informalisation and role of trade union on tea tribe workers in Assam”. In Adivasis in India: Resources, Livelihoods and Institutions edited by Kailash Sarap and Venkatanarayana Motkuri. New Delhi: Bloomsbury.
Exhibition and Conference Organised
• Organised a photo exhibition in Bangalore’s Creative Space, on Food, Belongingness and neighbourhood: The ‘Ethnic’ Northeastern food preparation in Kalyan Nagar, Bengaluru on 17th August 2024. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bengaluru-is-more-accepti...
• Part of the organizing committee members (Specially in-charge on the transportation team) for 48th All Indian Sociological Conference.
Fellowships
• Writing Urban India (WUI 3.0) Fellow funded by National Law School of India University, Bangalore (joined in February 2025).
• Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) for Assistant Professor on 21st April 2014 conducted by University Grants Commission.
• Qualified State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) Commission, Assam on 26th February 2014 conducted by University Grants Commission.
Fellowships
• Writing Urban India (WUI 3.0) Fellow funded by National Law School of India University, Bangalore (joined in February 2025).
• Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) for Assistant Professor on 21st April 2014 conducted by University Grants Commission.
• Qualified State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) Commission, Assam on 26th February 2014 conducted by University Grants Commission.