SASSpod

Lalita du Perron talks to recently awarded PhD Alexa Russo about collectives, sustainable agriculture, gender, and indigeneity.

Lalita du Perron talks to Isha Bhallamudi about her research on women gig workers in the informal beauty industry in Mumbai. What are the benefits and downfalls of doing gig work for women? What is the role of AI in managing the apps? Bhallamudi has her PhD from the University of California, Irvine, and then she had a postdoc in the Digital Civil Society Lab and Department of Communication at Stan...

Lalita du Perron talks to Sharika Thiranagama about her new book, how she came to this research in Palakkad, Kerala, after her earlier work on war in Sri Lanka, and all matters of caste, class, and identity.

Lalita du Perron talks to Rahul Rao about his book The Psychic Lives of Statues: Reckoning with the Rubble of Empire (Pluto Press, 2025), the challenges of keeping one’s writing up-to date in a rapidly changing world, and his recent talk at the Stanford Center for South Asia. Learn about Dr. Rao and his work here.

Lalita du Perron talks to Muskan Shafat ’21 about the ongoing relevance of the Stanford Global Studies/South Asia track Minor, her experiences since graduating from Stanford, and her new company Frontier Labs. Learn more about Muskan Shafat's work and how to get in touch here . Learn about Shafat's research here. Learn more about the financial clarity programme or Money System here.

Lalita du Perron talks to Joti Singh, founder of Duniya Dance and Drum Company about her own experiences dancing while growing up in a Panjabi community in Georgia, starting Duniya Dance and Drum, and the ongoing importance of the message of her production Ghadar Geet. NOTE: There is some noise disturbance in the first 5 minutes, which is resolved afterwards.

Lalita du Perron talks to Postdoctoral Fellow Danny Shanahan about his work on literature and emergency law in Northern Ireland and Kashmir, the parallels, differences, and where we find hope. The episode was recorded on January 27th, 2026. Literature to add to your reading lists: Seamus Heaney, North Anna Burns, Milkman Agha Shahid Ali, The Country without a Post Office Madhuri Vijay, The Far Fie...

Lalita du Perron talks to Trishna Senapaty , Mellon Postdoc and Teaching Fellow in the Crime, Law and Justice Studies Program at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, about her work in open prisons in North India, and how communities are built in and around them.

Lalita du Perron talks to Afghan historian Mejgan Massoumi (PhD, Stanford, now at Carnegie Mellon University) and South Asia bibliographer Ryan Perkins about the incredible Ustad Mahwash archive, recently acquired by Stanford Libraries. They discuss the ongoing relevance of Ustad Mahwash’s legacy, some gems that are in the collection and worth checking out, and the importance of archives in k...

Lalita du Perron talks to Stanford Law student Archit Lohani about his work on digital rights, transparency in technology governance, and the ramifications of Artificial intelligence. 

Lalita du Perron talks to Nidhi Mahajan, Associate Professor of Anthropology at UC-Santa Cruz about her new book Moorings: Voyages of Capital across the Indian Ocean, the way her fieldwork interviews shaped her project, and the arduous process of turning a PhD into a monograph. 

Lalita du Perron talks to  Daniel Praburaj , former pre-doctoral fellow at the Stanford King Center on Global Development about his journey to Stanford (spoiler: it did not involve an IIT) and his plans for the future. Lalita and Daniel are joined at the start of the podcast by the meows of Lalita’s cat Michelle, but after about 10 minutes she gives up trying to be the main cha...

Lalita du Perron talks to Shanthi Senthe of the University of Windsor Law School about her former life as a corporate lawyer, her current life as a scholar of law and business, and her experiences doing fieldwork in Sri Lanka. 

Lalita du Perron welcomes Sumeet Mhaskar to discuss his Fulbright Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford and his book project on the changing job landscape in the textile mills of Mumbai. 

Lalita du Perron welcomes scholar and dancer Preethi Ramaprasad to talk about their joint work on consent and dance, and Ramaprasad’s upcoming performed and curated art shows. As You Are - Sept, 12-14, BAMHouse, Oakland, tickets  here   When Eyes Speak Oct 11-12, Joe Goode Annex, tickets  here  

Lalita du Perron talks to Amrit Deol of Fresno State University about her project on the Ghaddar party and Sikh diasporic history, and her future work on life in the borderlands.

Lalita du Perron talks to Stanford Life Design Fellow Deepak Ramola in this 2-part episode, about what it means to be a wisdom historian, an artist, and a writer, while we try to figure out why grandmothers are always so wise! Over the last 15 years, Deepak has worked at the intersection of wisdom and lifelong learning through his organization  Project FUEL , collecting  life l...

Lalita du Perron talks to Stanford Life Design Fellow Deepak Ramola in this 2-part episode, about what it means to be a wisdom historian, an artist, and a writer, while we try to figure out why grandmothers are always so wise! Over the last 15 years, Deepak has worked at the intersection of wisdom and lifelong learning through his organization  Project FUEL , collecting  life l...

Lalita du Perron talks to Vidyani Suryadevara of the Stanford School of Medicine on her work on healthy aging, the benefits of dance, and the Stanford Heritage Dance Series. Read the Stanford Report  article  on the transformative power of dance in health.

Guest host Anuradha Bhasin talks to Halima Kazem about her work on gender apartheid in Afghanistan and her role in the Stanford Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Follow Halima on X at @halimakazem.

Lalita du Perron talks to Shandana Waheed, Doctoral Student in the Department of Anthropology and the Archaeology Center at Stanford, about her work in Rawalpindi, the politics of heritage, and the concept of hostile histories.  

Lalita du Perron talks to psychiatrist Apurva Bhatt about her Stanford clinic, meeting the needs of adolescents and children with mental health challenges, and attitudes towards mental health in the South Asian community.   Intro and outro: Roslyn by Rishab Rikhiram Sharma, creator of Sitar for Mental Health. Many thanks for allowing us to use the...

Lalita du Perron talks to Arfa Khanum Sherwani about her JS Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford and her long-standing work with the Indian independent news outlet The Wire (thewire.in).  

Lalita du Perron talks to Stanford Anthropology PhD student Saad Lakhani about his work on the Tehreek-e Labaik Pakistan (TLP), also known as the anti-blasphemy movement.

Lalita du Perron welcomes  Kalpana Desai, President of the Society for Arts and Cultural Heritage of India to talk about the history and evolution of SACHI and an upcoming event at Stanford about the novel Wave.