Paper that raises critical issues on health care in India wins prestigious prize

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Congratulations to DPhil student Tanuj Luthra on winning the British Association for South Asian Studies Graduate Essay Prize 2024!

The paper overcame stiff competition in a year that saw more entries than ever before. 

'This is substantive, well-researched, well-written and offers a new perspective on the practice of medicine in the informal sector. The author clearly articulates their central argument and how their use of the concept of "conviviality" departs from existing understanding in the discipline. It is very well contextualized, theorized and corroborated with rich ethnography. The situation of the paper in a post-pandemic society throws up a very insightful understanding of the economy of care. Even more than this, the paper is very much of the moment - it raises issues that are critical to contemporary public discourse, and has valuable policy implications.' - BASAS panellists' comment on the paper. 

About the research

Tanuj Luthra said: 'My doctoral research, of which this paper is an outcome, is an ethnography of the everyday care work of 'chhota daktars' (unlicensed health providers) who live amongst and serve urban poor communities in low-income areas of Delhi. The study explores how their labour contributes to, and at times falls short in, producing both health outcomes and relations of care. Additionally, the project engages with evolving norms and discourses surrounding health and wellbeing in urban North India, with particular attention to enduring divisions of class, caste, gender, and other social factors, especially in the wake of the pandemic.'

The project is supervised by Dr Thomas Cousins and Professor Nayanika Mathur.