Doctoral scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
Doctoral scholar, Collaborative Program in South Asian Studies, University of Toronto
Research Interests
Algorithms | Anthropology of Knowledges | Audit | Classification | Computational culture | Data | Ethnography of science and technology | Futures | India | Postcolonial technoscience | Science & Technology Studies | Software | South Asia |
About Aakash
I am broadly interested in the study of states, statistics (stats), and computing, as it pertains to governance in postcolonial India, with attention to the colonial genealogies of the modern state. In the past, I have worked on the classification and its consequences in colonial India. In addition to prior training in computer science, I have worked in government agencies in India and US respectively, on data science projects in education, health, and skill development at the city, state, as well as the federal level. Currently I am conducting an ethnography of the use of machine learning algorithms in India, with stakes in thinking about supposed much heralded shift to data-driven governance, and evidence based policy making in governance more broadly.