Medical Anthropologist. Phenomenologist. Mango Lover.#
Pallavi is a researcher in the CORA (Cybernetics of Rapport and Attentiveness) programme at the School of Cybernetics. Her recent PhD thesis in medical anthropology titled ‘Embodied Measuring’, completed at the University of Adelaide, explores the foods, technologies and embodied practices used by middle-class Indians to ‘outwit’ type 2 diabetes. She is fascinated by how we shape and are shaped by measurements, and how a felt sense of measurement is used to navigate living with metabolic illness.
Her interest in food and metabolic health stems from her previous leadership experiences in Indian food-technology start-ups, spanning growth hacking, marketing, UX and product design. She also comes with undergraduate training in biotechnology and genetics.
Pallavi recently won an ASFS (Association for the Study of Food and Society) Racial Justice Fellow award sponsored by the Mellon Foundation for her work on ‘Mango Pleasures and the Outwitting of Colonial Disgust’, examining racialised dietary restrictions related to mangoes and type 2 diabetes in India.
Beyond her academic pursuits, Pallavi practices non-dual enquiry, enjoys cooking, and creates geometric art and silver jewellery.