ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Anishka is a social anthropologist working within the fields of the anthropology of religion, kinship and play, specifically playful religious life. 

Drawing on eighteen months of fieldwork (and beyond), Anishka's doctoral thesis focussed on the changing landscape of prayer across diasporas, specifically in the Pushtimarg (Path of Grace), touching on other bhakti Hindu sects, though with a wider interest in the human-divine relationship more broadly. The thesis explored intersecting themes such as play, transcendence and immanence and universality of categories, including the relationship between the environment and religion, kinship and specifically notions of care and care-giving in childhood.  Her fieldwork was in Gujarat, India and Leicester, UK, and now, online. The thesis forms the foundation of her current monograph project. 

More recently, Anishka formed part of the Covid and Care Research Group at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ conducting digital ethnography with Hindu communities, then new parents, during the outbreak of Covid-19.  

Her upcoming co-authored book, which is under peer review with McFarland Publishers, deals online Hindu bhakti life using a combination of digital and physical ethnography. 

Anishka has an MSc in Religion in the Contemporary World based at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Anthropology department, and a BA in French, Spanish and European Studies from the University of Bath. She has taught as a Graduate Teaching Assistant a number of times, taught at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Summer School on Childhood and holds a Postgraduate certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE).