Greetings! My name is Bobby Luthra Sinha and Currently I work as Senior Vice President-Research at the Osianama Learning Experience (OLE), Delhi. A Political Scientist and Social Anthropologist by profession, I have worked for Universities, Research organizations, think tanks and NGOs in various capacities from 1996 onward.
I have a rich experience in running projects, writing reviews, coordinating academic events and engaging in editorial services for scientific journals and papers. In October 2019, I helped established the Centre for Asian, African and Latin American Studies (CAALAS) at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Delhi. As the Deputy Director (honorary) of CAALAS, I have organized and plan to undertake, facilitate and collaborate in a series of research activities in the coming years. Comparative politics; Development debates and the State in Asia, Africa and Latin America; Research Methodology, Political Ethnography; and Debates on ethnographic Research methods cum approaches form my academic specialization.
Since the beginning of my career, I have been passionate about studying cultures, practicing inter-disciplinary work profiles and learning languages. I have also worked as a Translator, Interpreter and Lecturer as well as Instructor in Spanish at a crucial stage of my career. My exposure to and experience with the language has guided many of my career moves and engagements, as my detailed CV below will show.
In 2017, I was awarded my doctorate in Social Anthropology, Political Science and African Studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Thereafter, I completed my Post-Doctoral fellowship at the School of Social Sciences in the University of KwaZulu- Natal, Durban, South Africa in 2019. I won the Sahapedia-UNESCO Fellowship (2018-2019) in relation to my project on the, ‘Rohingyas of Delhi’ and an Associate Fellowship (2017- 2018) with the Sahapedia for developing a multi-media module on the Bishnois of Western Rajasthan. Moving towards Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic film making since 2017, I have made several documentaries on Bishnois of western Rajasthan which are now appreciated world- wide. Some of my work is now available at: https://www.sahapedia.org/bishnois-of-western-rajasthan-culture-of-nature- conservation
conservation.
Actor based studies of environment and ecology, the politics of social and protest movements, migration to and from Asia, Africa and Latin America form my core academic concerns. I have developed modules and research proposals on migration and protest movements for universities in Argentina, South Africa and Switzerland. My experience as the executive committee member of the Scientific Commission of Migration at the International Union for Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) since 2013 has honed my forte on Indian Diaspora studies, Twice Migrants and Substance Abuse among Migrant and vulnerable populations. In 2004, I was awarded the prestigious, “Orden del Buzon” by the Museum of Manoblanca in Argentina for my monograph (written in Spanish) on Tango, the cultural comeback of Jews and socio-political role of Museums in post-WW II Buenos Aires and my excellence in history, theory and techniques of Tango. Having taught Political Science, Spanish and NGO Management at Universities in India, I excel in interdisciplinary and comparative research, translation and interpretation. Starting as a Research Associate and Editor at the Developing Countries Research Centre (DCRC) in Delhi early in my career, I went on to become the India Projects Officer for the Minorities Rights Group (MRG), London during 1997-1998.