Namita Sugandhi

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Recent courses taught:

• Ancient Civilizations and Empires
• Peoples and Cultures of South Asia
• Fundamentals of Archaeology
• Introduction to Anthropology
• Material Culture Analysis
• Political Archaeology
• Field Research in Archaeology – Pine Lake Archaeological Field School

Selected publications:

• • “The Archaeology of Hinduism.” (2023) Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology.
  • “Sacred Spaces and Local Places: Temples and Shrines in the Religious Landscape of Tekkalakota.” (2022) In The Hindu Temple: Materiality, Social History and Practice. Edited by Himanshu Prabha Ray, Uthara Suvrathan and Salila Kulshreshtha. Routledge. Co-author with C.M. Manohar and Ashok Akbari.
  • “Unfolding the Landscape of the Southern Neolithic: Recent Explorations at Tekkalakota.” (2022) Co-author with Shobha V. In Beyond Stones and More Stones: Volume Three. Ravi Korisettar, ed. Bangalore: The Mythic Society.
  • “Change and Continuity: Tekkalakota during the Iron Age.” (2021) Co-author with Shobha V. In Iron Age in India: Some More Thoughts. Abhayan G.S., Rajesh S.V., and Preeta Nayar, eds. Pp.135-147. Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala. Open Access e-publication
  • “Chai and Conversation: Archaeology as Ethnography of Communication.” (2020) Co-author with Teresa P. Raczek. In Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association: Engendering Heritage: Contemporary Feminist Approaches to Archaeological and Heritage Practice. Tiffany Cain and Teresa P. Raczek, eds. 31: 80-95.
  • “Archaeology of South Asia” (2015). International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition. J. Wright, ed. Oxford: Elsevier.
  • “Tekkalakota through the Ages: recent research and perspectives” (2014). Man and Environment 39:62-80.
  • “Conquests of Dharma: Network Models and the Study of Ancient Polities” (2012). In Territoriality in Archaeology. J. F. Osborne and N. P. VanValkenburgh, eds. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 22:145-163.
  • “Historical Archaeology of Asia” (2012). Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd edition. N. A. Silberman, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • “Researching a Living Site: Articulating the Intersection of Collaboration and Heritage in a Transnational Village” (2011) with Teresa Raczek, Lalit Pandey and Prabodh Shirvalkar. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 26: 119-135.
  • “Archaeology of Hinduism” (2011) with Kathleen Morrison. Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. T. Insoll, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • “In the Heart of the Village: Exploring Archaeological Remains in Chatrikhera Village, Rajasthan, India” (2010) with Teresa Raczek. Expedition 52:22-30.
  • “Context, Content and Composition: Questions of Intended Meaning and the Asokan Edicts” (2003). Asian Perspectives 42:224-246.

  College service and professional affiliations:

  • Committee of Academic Standards (Chair)
  • Hardy Chair in Anthropology (2023-2025)