Avijit Singh is a second-year Ph.D. student with a focus on South Asian studies, childhood history, social history, gender and labour studies, and British imperial history. His research is concerned with the ways in which orphans were defined and cared for by the colonial state, religious organizations, and other non-state actors. He particularly focuses on the politics of orphan care during moments of crisis such as famines and epidemics in 19th century India. Pivoting his project at the interstices of social and political history, he examines the complexities of orphan care through the lens of gender, caste, and labour in order to problematise colonial development and welfare.

Advisor: Mytheli Sreenivas