Nitasha Kaul

{{Infobox person

| name = Nitasha Kaul

| image = Nitasha Kaul speaking at the New Internationalist's 40th Anniversary.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Nitasha Kaul

| birth_date = November 1976

| birth_place = Gorakhpur, India{{cite tweet |last=PhD |first=Professor Nitasha Kaul |user=NitashaKaul |reply-to=NitashaKaul |date=February 25, 2024 |number=1761711484814413827 |access-date=February 27, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240227105850/https://twitter.com/NitashaKaul/status/1761711484814413827?t=gHBP1kRp-z6pp9pRaEoujg&s=19 |archive-date=February 27, 2024 |title=My origin is from a downtown mohalla in Srinagar, Kashmir and I was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh — the land of saffron to the 'saffronisation' heartland. This is about the threat to me & my safety, & the important impact of my work that worries anti-democratic sensibilities (although as I said after speaking as an expert witness at the US Congress, given how I have been repeatedly threatened, if I come to any accident, it probably merits a closer look). |lang=en }}

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| nationality = British

| other_names =

| known_for = Residue

| education = St. Thomas' School

| alma_mater = University of Delhi
University of Hull

| occupation = Writer, Poet, Activist, Academic

}}

Nitasha Kaul is a British-Indian{{cite web |date=February 25, 2024 |last=Poovanna |first=Sharan |url=https://theprint.in/india/indian-origin-uk-professor-claims-she-was-denied-entry-into-india-despite-invite-by-karnataka-govt/1978495/ |url-status=live |access-date=February 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240228073958/https://theprint.in/india/indian-origin-uk-professor-claims-she-was-denied-entry-into-india-despite-invite-by-karnataka-govt/1978495/ |archive-date=February 28, 2024 |title=Indian-origin UK professor claims she was denied entry into India despite invite by Karnataka govt |publisher=ThePrint |language=en-IN }} academic, writer and poet based in London.[https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/kaul-nitasha Nitasha Kaul]. University of Westminster.{{Cite web |title=Nitasha KAUL |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/s8qqnlDe2Uv8X33fIm6uUJLjkxk/appointments |publisher=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |website=gov.uk |access-date=27 July 2023 }} In addition to fiction, she writes and speaks about topics that cover the political economy, Bhutan, Kashmir, nationalism in India, gender and identity.

Early life and education

Nitasha Kaul was born in November 1976 in Gorakhpur, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, into a Kashmiri Pandit family that had migrated from the Downtown Mohalla of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

Kaul was raised in New Delhi had her schooling at St. Thomas' School.{{cite web | url=https://sites.nyujournalism.org/shoeleather2020-wp/tag/south-asia/ | title=South Asia Archives }} Kaul graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Sri Ram College of Commerce, affiliated with the University of Delhi.

Kaul moved to England from India in 1997, at the age of 21, for pursuing her post-graduate degree from University of Hull. Kaul went on to earn her Doctorate in Economics and Philosophy from Hull in 2003.{{Cite web|url=http://nitashakaul.com/Home_Page.html|title=Home Page|website=nitashakaul|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-28}} Her doctoral thesis was Interrogating the Subject-World of Economic Epistemology: Re-Imagining Theory and Difference.{{Cite web|url=http://nitashakaul.com/CURRICULUM_VITAE.html|title=CURRICULUM VITAE|website=nitashakaul|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-28}}

Career

Kaul is a professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Westminster in the UK.https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/kaul-nitasha In addition to her chair, she is also the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD).https://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/groups-and-centres/centre-for-the-study-of-democracy Kaul served as a lecturer of economics at University of Bath and as an assistant professor of economics at the Bristol Business School from 2002 to 2007 before being made associate professor in Creative Writing at the Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan (2010). Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster.{{cite web|url=https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/kaul-nitasha|title=Dr Nitasha Kaul|publisher=University of Westminster|accessdate=24 February 2016}}{{Cite news |last=Bureau |first=The Hindu |date=2024-02-25 |title=U.K. professor says she was denied entry into India for event |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indian-origin-professor-denied-entry-to-country/article67885528.ece |access-date=2024-02-27 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}} She has published widely on themes relating to democracy, political economy, Hindutva/Indian politics, misogyny, technology/Artificial Intelligence, identity, rise of right-wing nationalism, feminist and postcolonial critiques, small states in geopolitics, regions of Bhutan, Kerala, and Kashmir. Having received multiple research grants and awards for her research, writing, and activism, she is the author of over 150 publications, including 7 single-authored or edited scholarly and literary books, book chapters in numerous critical and ground-breaking edited collections, plus peer-reviewed original research articles in numerous journals across humanities and social science disciplines.https://westminster.academia.edu/NitashaKaul/CurriculumVitae{{cite news|url=https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/researcher/88811|title=Dr. Nitasha Kaul Research Outputs|accessdate=29 December 2019|publisher=University of Westminster}}

On October 22, 2019, Kaul served as one of the key witnesses at a United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing about the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, following the revocation of special status within India.{{cite news|url=https://www.congress.gov/event/116th-congress/house-event/110143|title=Human Rights in South Asia: Views from the State Department and the Region, Panel II 116th Congress (2019-2020)|accessdate=29 December 2019|publisher=US Congress}} Kaul outlined extensive UNHCHR reports about the violations of human rights (and democratic principles) in both Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir along with the clampdown on communication facilities and mass-detention in the Indian territory at the time.{{cite news|url=https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110143/witnesses/HHRG-116-FA05-Wstate-KaulN-20191022.pdf|title=Written Testimony of Dr Nitasha Kaula: Hearing on "Human Rights in South Asia: Views from the State Department and the Region, Panel II" U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation (Committee on Foreign Affairs)|accessdate=29 December 2019|publisher=US Congress}}

= Books =

Her first book Imagining Economics Otherwise: encounters with Identity/Difference (2007), was a monograph on economics and philosophy and was subject to mixed reception.{{Cite journal|last=Charusheela|first=S.|date=April 2010|title=Imagining Economics Otherwise: Encounters with Identity/Difference|journal=Feminist Economics|language=en|volume=16|issue=2|pages=141–146|doi=10.1080/13545701003731864|s2cid=145128669|issn=1354-5701}}{{Cite journal|last=Richardson|first=Colin|date=2008|title=Review of IMAGINING ECONOMICS OTHERWISE: ENCOUNTERS WITH IDENTITY/DIFFERENCE|url=http://www.heterodoxnews.com/htnf/htn62a/Kaul-Richardson.pdf|journal=Heterodox Economics Newsletter|issue=62}}{{Cite web|url=https://thebookreviewindia.org/a-postmodernist-critique/|title=A Postmodernist Critique|website=The Book Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-28}}

In 2009 she wrote Residue, which was the first novel in English by a Kashmiri woman{{cite news|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sharla-bazliel-reviews-residue-by-nitasha-kaul/1/351709.html|title=The urge for closure|last=Bazliel|first=Sharla|date=28 March 2014|accessdate=26 February 2016|publisher=IndiaToday}} and was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/21/subcontinent-man-asian-literary-prize|title=Indian subcontinent dominates Man Asian literary prize shortlist|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=2009-10-21|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-12-28|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

Controversies

In February 2024, Kaul was invited to participate as a speaker in a two-day convention, but she was denied entry to India at Kempegowda International Airport, in Bengaluru, Karnataka, even though she carried a valid Overseas Citizen of India credentials.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-26 |title=India denies entry to UK academic visiting to 'speak on democratic values' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-nitasha-kaul-karnataka-modi-b2502513.html |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Prof. Kaul's Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/NitashaKaul/status/1761711445375410514}} While there has been no official statement from the Government of India on why she was denied entry, speculation is that it was a result of her criticism of Indian Government Policies in Kashmir, including her use of the term "occupied" for the state in her coursework.{{cite web | url=https://twitter.com/OSINTWa_com/status/1761773802617536744| title= Twitter }}

Bibliography

Future Tense, HarperCollins India, 2020 ISBN 978-9353572631https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Tense-Nitasha-Kaul/dp/9353572630
Residue. Rupa Publications (Rainlight imprint), 2014 {{ISBN|9788129124852}}
November Light: An Anthology of Creative Writing from Bhutan
Imagining Economics Otherwise: Encounters with Identity/difference. London: Routledge, 2007 {{ISBN|9780415383974}}