Ravi Kumar

Ravi Kumar is presently Chairperson, Department of Sociology, South Asian University. He is co-editor of a book series on 'Social Movements, Dissent and Transformative Action' (Routledge: Delhi); 'Conversations on/for South Asia' (Aakar Books). His research and teaching is heavily influenced by the belief that if social science is to transcend mere reproduction of what has already been done then one needs to instill perspective into whatever work one does. Having never attended school, he has very critically looked at education under capitalism as a process of factoryisation – an extremely mechanical exercise that disciplines students, aims to make them servile to the status quo and kills their creative enterprise to ensure all this. In higher education I believe there is an urgent need to not only connect education to the experiences of teachers and students thereby making it dynamic but also to take it out of clutches of obsessive 'skilling' process. My area of research includes political economy of identity politics, social movements, neoliberal impact on education and processes of knowledge production. I am Associate Editor of 'Society and Culture in South Asia' (Sage) and Editor (South Asia) of Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies (www.jceps.com).