I am a researcher, teacher and writer with interests in craft, technology and culture.
It all started with my doctoral research, which examined online identity projects centered on the sari and what they reveal about consumers, cultures and markets. The research was multidisciplinary and led me into the domains of ethnography, history as well as cultural, media and social media analysis.
I have published peer-reviewed articles in leading research journals and articles in national dailies and international magazines. Currently, I am working on a book about the cultural history of the sari based on this research.
I love writing. Even more, I love teaching the craft of writing (nonfiction, academic writing, technical writing) to different audiences. In 2019, I was awarded the Peter Taylor Fellowship given to outstanding writers by the Kenyon Review.
While working as a tenured faculty member in a premier engineering institution, I realized that there’s a staggering gap in understanding between tech creators and their clients/end-users. This led to my second calling: I bring my expertise in research and communication to consult for companies in the tech, luxury retail, craft and wellness spaces, helping them engage effectively with their audiences.
I continue to work on a number of fairly eclectic research topics, some of which include i) how digital tools can help in archiving cultural heritage; ii) decolonizing craft narratives; iii) how users perceive sartorial comfort. You can find a more comprehensive description of the research projects here.
Do any of these topics interest you as well? Let’s talk!
Curating for The Browser, the daily newsletter recommending the best writing on the Internet
Content Strategy Consulting; Teaching Workshops & Courses on Writing & Communication; Editorial Support; Public Engagement
Client Relations; Workforce Management; Content & Campaign Ideation, Strategy & Design
Key Account Management; Project Management; Content Ideation & Development
Qualitative Research; Research Leadership; Teaching; Mentorship; Outreach; Consultancy; Public Sector Engagement.
Qualitative Research; Writing; Research Outreach; Teaching
Funded by the Erasmus IBIES Fellowship
Minor: Economics
Peer-reviewed Journal Article
LinkPeer-reviewed Journal Article
LinkPeer-reviewed Journal Article
LinkNewspaper Article
LinkNewspaper Article co-authored with Arvind Srinivasan
LinkReview Article
LinkArticle in Edited Anthology co-authored with Smruthi Bala Kannan
LinkBook Translation from Tamil-English by K. Srilata & Kaamya Sharma
LinkInvited Talk: Public Engagement
LinkInvited Presentation: Academic Workshop
Invited Talk: Public Engagement
LinkPodcast Interview
LinkInvited Talk: Public Engagement
LinkKeynote Lecture: Annual Academic Conference
LinkInvited Presentation: Academic Conference
Invited Talk: Public Engagement
Invited Talk: Public Engagement
Invited Talk: Public Engagement
Invited Presentation: Academic Conference
Invited Presentation: Academic Conference
Instructor & Speaker: Workshop Session
Instructor & Speaker: Workshop Session
Instructor & Speaker for Workshop Session in Course: Effective Communication & Soft Skills
Coordinator & Fellow-at-Large
Peter Taylor Fellow
When conserving objects or materials which are subject to decay, our conservation efforts may at most preserve them for a few centuries. The only way to truly preserve them is to preserve knowledge of their making. This collaborative project entails a reimagining of AI and computing methods to archive endangered aspects of craft, culture and heritage.
Current applications of cutting-edge digital tools for social media research are designed for automation whereas we need methods designed to better connect (human) researchers with their interlocutors in the digital space. This collaborative project is an open-ended exploration of how to conduct research on visual social media moving beyond Big Data approaches towards culturally sensitive qualitative research.
This project examines how various actors in the craft world create meaning and value in their use and practice of craft. Through archival and ethnographic methods, this research links the historical divisions between craft and industry, the handmade and mechanized to contemporary questions of skill, meaning and value.
This research in progress studies recreational strength training communities that have mushroomed online for women on Instagram. Using media and social media analysis, I compare strength training with other performance-oriented subcultures of the body, such as running and CrossFit. This research also examines the communicative features of Instagram as a social media app and how it normalizes alternate displays of female bodies.
Dominant narratives around contemporary fitness fetishize pain and suffering, almost as if they are the dues one must pay to ‘earn’ a fit body. This practice-based research seeks to disconnect the body from narratives of pain and suffering to imagine a more joyful path to fitness.
How does the user actually perceive comfort? Is comfort aesthetic – relating to how something looks and is described (using words such as ‘light’ and ‘breathable’, for instance) or haptic – relating to qualities of touch, texture, fit, or both? My earlier research revealed that craft revivalists cited comfort as the reason why handloom textiles are the obvious user choice in the hot, humid weather that prevails in India. Was this true? This research combined ethnography, media research and material analysis to study the relationship between representations and perceptions of comfort among clothing users, focusing on haptic elements of textiles which influence user perceptions of comfort.
Project CRAFT is my initiative to create digital tools to augment craft production and consumption in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, using AR-VR and digitalization. Moreover, it sought the use of pattern recognition to help craft users obtain Intellectual Property Rights. Jodhpur, as India’s leading handicraft and furniture exporter, was a salient location for this pilot study. In order to understand the current status and challenges of the craft industry, I conducted problem validation research, using ethnographic methods, interviews, shadowing and observations as well as unstructured interactions in Jodhpur. This project received funding from the Government of India.
This research, part of my doctoral dissertation, emerged from my observations of sari revival movements on social media. Although saris occupy a lion’s share of the Indian retail market, why are they perceived as endangered and in need of revival? What do saris signify in the larger realm of culture and identity? This research linked identity projects on social media to the clothing consumption of women in urban India. I employed a mixed-methods approach entailing ethnography, social media analysis and quantitative market analysis to contextualize contemporary anxieties about identity within larger patterns of consumption.
This research, part of my doctoral dissertation, was conducted to unearth a cultural history of the sari as draped clothing. Using a mixed methods approach combining ethnography, archival research, media study, visual & material analysis, I studied the sari’s mutations through the colonial and postcolonial periods, focusing on the emergence of the Nivi style of drape, and what it signified about a new identity for Indian women. For whom was this new image fashioned, and whom did it exclude? I am presently writing a monograph about the Modern Sari.
Email me at kaamyasharma at gmail dot com