Deepika Padmanabhan
Bio
My research focuses on nationalism, language politics, and self-determination, with a regional emphasis on South Asia. In my dissertation, I study how state elites assimilate local language groups into the nation through promotion of a national language. Using a mixed methods approach—including audit experiments, survey experiments, and intensive qualitative fieldwork—I advance the concept of “Everyday Imposition,” wherein states promote the national language through routine and ostensibly non-coercive interactions with citizens. I argue that everyday imposition builds a linguistic hierarchy, with the national language at the top, that incentivizes subnational groups to enhance their status by identifying with the nation over their local identities. However, this assimilation is a contentious process involving simultaneous nationalism and subnational nativism against internal migrants. My analysis centers on India, exploring how citizens and politicians from Southern India respond to the imposition of the Hindi language.
Additionally, I research the politics of food and film as everyday manifestations of nationalism, and how everyday nationalism shapes gender attitudes and perceptions. My research has been generously supported by the American Political Science Association (APSA) Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, and grants from the Yale MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
Contact
Education
- BA in Political Science, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
- MA, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
- MA Department of Politics, New York University
Personal Website
Interests
- Comparative Politics
- Political Economy
- South Asia