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Nidhin Donald is a Swiss Government Excellence Post-Doctoral Fellow (ESKAS) with the Ethnological Seminar at the University of Lucerne. His current research traces the conceptual triad of house, household and family in the World Health Organization Archives, with a focus on the first four decades of its functioning. 

 Nidhin is a trained sociologist with a deep interest in the study of historical materials. His doctoral work at Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi, analysed Syrian Christian identity politics through a study of their printed family histories (and its digital iterations) starting from the early 20th century. He draws methodological inputs from historical sociology, sociology of knowledge, critical discourse analysis and visual/digital ethnography. His work highlights the modern life of caste/s beyond Hinduism in South Asia and contributes to the socio-historical study of family and lineage-based associations, focusing on how familism shapes and is shaped by socio-economic and demographic shifts in local, regional and transnational spaces.

Previously, he worked as an Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT B), where he analysed the conceptual journey of house and household as critical categories in post-colonial data systems, through an archival study of decennial censuses and allied documents. 

Nidhin has been a freelance illustrator for over a decade with a significant body of published works. He has also served as a Research Assistant with Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women’s Studies Centre, Pune University and a Programme Coordinator/Researcher with National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), Delhi. He has taught courses in public policy and sociology in St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts, Pune.

Publications

Journal Articles 

Donald, Nidhin and Asha Singh (2023). Beyond the Paternity of Caste: The Dalit Christians/Dalit Muslim Challenge to the Rule Book. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 58, Issue No. 9, pp. 24-28

Donald, Nidhin (2022). The ‘Brahmin’ in Syrian Christian Family Histories. Indian Church History Review, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 63-81.

Donald, Nidhin and Asha Singh (2022). Writing as a Non-Hindu Indian: J.E. Sanjana and the Caste Question. Nidan: International Journal for Indian Studies, Vol. 7, Issue No. 1, pp. 103-114.

Donald, Nidhin (2022). Every Family its Own Historian? The Case of Syrian Christian Family Histories. Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 57, Issue No. 28, pp. 57-64.

Donald, Nidhin (2021). Schooling the Past: Reflections on Syrian Christian Family Historiography. Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. XVI. No.1, pp. 42-55.

Donald, Nidhin (2021). Is Endogamy Christian or Unchristian? Tracing the Knanaya Debate. Special Issue on Sociology of Law, Explorations (E-journal of Indian Sociological Society), Vol. 5 (2), October 2021, pp. 252-264.

Donald, Nidhin. (2018). Religion as ‘unsettled’: Notes from Census and Anti-Caste Mobilizations. Prabuddha: Journal of Social Equality 1, no. 1, pp. 68-77

Donald, Nidhin. (2017). Politics of Easy Conversations: Savarna Faith Dialogues in India. The Apollonian 4: 1-2, March-June, pp.107-123. (UGC listed)

 Donald, Nidhin. (2015). "Gazing from a Distance: Spatial Reading of a Law Commission Report." Indian Feminisms, Law Reform and The Law Commission of India: Special Issue in Honour of Lotika Sarkar, R. Sen & S. Mandal Eds., Journal of Indian Law & Society 6, pp.91-109.

Review 

Donald, Nidhin (2022). Dissecting ‘Modern’ Syrian Christianity [Review Article]. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 57, Issue No. 39, pp. 28-33.

Book Chapters 

Donald, Nidhin (2022). Doing History like a ‘Family’: The Syrian Christian Case. In Yagati Chinna Rao (Ed.), Towards Inclusivity: Essays on Social Exclusion and Discrimination, New Delhi: Meena Books, pp. 143-166.

Donald, Nidhin (2020). Nasrani Family Histories and Migration. In S. Rajan & S. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Internal Migration in India, New Delhi: Sage. pp. 290-302.

Popular Articles 

 Indian Universitykalile Jaati Charitravalkarikumbol, Dynamic Action: Tiruvilla, 51:4, April 2018, (Malayalam).

Family History as a Political Act in Kerala,The Social History Society, May 2019. Link: https://socialhistory.org.uk/shs_exchange/family-history-as-a-political-act-in-kerala/

Coping, Scapegoating, Menacing: Christians in Pandemic India, Public Orthodoxy, Fordham University, June 2021. Link: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2021/06/17/christians-in-pandemic-india/

Mr. Family Historian (or kudumba-charitrakaaran): The Syrian Christian Case, Ala -Kerala Studies Blog, May 2021. Link: https://alablog.in/issues/33/mr-family-historian/

Gail Omvedt: The truth-seeking sociologist, Hindustan Times, August 2021, (with Asha Singh). Link : https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/gail-omvedt-the-truth-seeking-sociologist-101630319623873.html

Bhimayana as a Dwelling, Take on Art Magazine, April 2022. Link: https://takeonartmagazine.com/magazine/books/