Dr Annapurna Menon

PhD

Department of Politics and International Relations

Teaching Associate

Image of Dr Annapurna Menon outside, smiling
Profile picture of Image of Dr Annapurna Menon outside, smiling
a.menon@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Annapurna Menon
Department of Politics and International Relations
Modular Teaching Village
Northumberland Road
91Ö±²¥
S10 1AJ
Profile

Dr Annapurna Menon joined the Department in September 2022 after finishing her PhD at the University of Westminster in June 2022. At present, she is a Teaching Associate in the Department. Her doctoral research focused on the coloniality of postcolonial nation-states, specifically studying the Indian nation-state's exercise of power in Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir. She has also published on topics relating to Hindutva, right-wing politics, militarisation, gender and activism.

Research interests

My PhD thesis examines the Indian state’s exercise of power in Indian-Administered Jammu & Kashmir (IAJK). I do this by using the concept of coloniality as an analytic and studying its functioning in IAJK through the colonial matrix of power. In this, I examine how the colonial British Indian state and the postcolonial Indian state established their superiority over the peoples of IAJK through the law, supported by media discourse, gained control over knowledge production and circulation within the region that depends on the ‘othering’ of Kashmiri peoples and finally, dehumanised, dispossessed, and depersonalised Kashmiri Muslims who are the majority in IAJK. The three aspects together establish structures of relations that affirm the Indian role as a colonial power. Through a critical reading of laws and government orders, media publications, textbooks and think tank publications I highlight the colonial aspect in each dimension of the colonial matrix of power. This study contributes to the literature on the Indian state from postcolonial and decolonial approaches, it applies the concept of coloniality to a postcolonial nation-state and will be of interest to scholars working with postcolonial and decolonial approaches or focusing on South Asian politics, and contemporary colonialisms. Apart from this, my research interests focus on the Hindutva right-wing movement in India and in the diaspora, feminist International Relations, militarism, surveillance and ethics of surveillance, and activism.  

Publications

Journal articles

  • Menon A (2022) Debunking Hindutva Appropriation of Decolonial Thought. Interfere: Journal for Critical Thought and Radical Politics, 3, 36-57. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Krishnakumar J & Menon A (2022) . TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 9(3), 488-500. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Menon A (2021) . Critical Studies on Security, 9(2), 150-154. RIS download Bibtex download

Chapters

  • Kaul N & Menon A (2024) , The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Islamophobia (pp. 377-396). Springer International Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Menon A & Kaul N (2021) Hindutva in Western societies Entanglements and paradoxes In Gowricharan R (Ed.), New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora Routledge India RIS download Bibtex download
Teaching interests

Seminar leader:

  • POL242 - Tackling World's Wicked Problems
  • POL240 - Africa in the Contemporary World