Vrinda Chopra

What's Attention Got to Do With It: On Reading and Reflexivity

Vrinda Chopra is a Senior Writing Fellow at Ashoka University. She has a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Cape Town, an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Social Psychology from the London School ofEconomics. Her current research focuses on reflexivity and the subject position of a Global South researcher working across postcolonial economies. This work builds on her doctoral work on entrepreneurship, social change and the informal economy in India and South Africa.

At Ashoka University, Vrinda works on academic writing pedagogies focussing on deepening the tenets of interdisciplinarity. She also teaches workshops on research methodology, academic integrity and ethics, and the intersections of storytelling, creative non-fiction and qualitative research. Before joining Ashoka University, she assisted in teaching at the University of CapeTown and led the learning and knowledge function for a micro-enterprise programme in semi-urban India. She has published academic pieces in Economic Geography, The Sociological Review, Doing Sociology and Africa@LSE, among others. The Wire and independent magazines have published her creative non-fiction pieces. Vrinda can be reached at vrinda.chopra@ashoka.edu.in.