PhD Thesis
Title: We eat whatever we could find’ Caste, Food, and Malnutrition in central India: An Anthropological Exploration
PhD Supervisor: Aditya Bharadwaj
PhD CO Supervisor: Shaila Seshia Galvin
Expected completion date: 2025
Harshal’s research investigates the structural factors contributing to malnutrition among children under five in central India. His research focuses on examining contemporary food politics and the politics of nutrition welfare programs. Furthermore, he looks at how caste is situated and influences the provision of nutrition to malnourished children through health system services and other welfare departments in central India.
Profile
Harshal Sonekar is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Prior to his doctoral studies, he gained professional experience in the Department of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). During his tenure, he actively participated in COVID-19 research at the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology and also served as faculty for Sociology and Demography courses within the same department. He holds a Master's degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Master's degree in Demography from the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.
Academic Work experience
Research Experience
Research Associate at ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, from September 2016 to August 2021, Responsibilities: Teaching and Research
Research Interests
- Rural India
- Malnutrition, caste, and food politics
- Health care, bureaucracy, and state
Relevant Publications and Works
- Kumar MS, Madhumathi J, Gayathri K, Rozario AG, Vijayaprabha R, Balusamy M, Sonekar H, Panda S. Community voices around COVID-19 vaccine in Chennai, India: A qualitative exploration during early phase of vaccine rollout. Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2022 May 1;155(5&6):451-60
- Barani, S., Bhatnagar, T., Natarajan, M., Gayathri, K., Sonekar, H.B., Sasidharan, A., Selvavinayagam, T.S. and Bagepally, B.S., 2022. Health-related quality of life among COVID-19 individuals: A cross-sectional study in Tamil Nadu, India. Clinical epidemiology and global health, 13, p.100943 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100943
- Kumar, M.S., Thangaraj, J.W.V., Saravanakumar, V., Selvaraju, S., Kumar, C.G., Sabarinathan, R., Jagadeesan, M., Hemalatha, M.S., Rani, D.S., Jeyakumar, A. and
- Sonekar, H.B., 2021. Monitoring the trend of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Chennai, India, July and October 2020. Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 115(11), pp.1350-1352 https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trab136
- Sonekar HB, Ponnaiah M. Emergence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: Anthropological and social science perspectives. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2020 Jun 24:1-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.203
- Kumar P, Sonekar H, Banerjee A, Jahan N. A Multilevel Analysis of Factors Associated with Malnutrition among Tribal Children in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey 2015-16. Child Indicators Research. 2021 Mar 4:1-23. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12187-021-09812-5
Public engagement
Sonekar, H. (2018). Experiences of someone who belongs to a lower caste. Dailyo.in. Retrieved 16 April 2021, from https://www.dailyo.in/voices/caste-discrimination-women-school-chamar-upper-caste/story/1/23362.html#
Fellowships, Grant and Awards
- The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) | Sept 2023 - June 2024
- Pre-fieldwork grant, Association Genève Asie’s, Geneva, Switzerland, | July 2023 – Aug 2023
- Institute Scholarship with Tuition Waiver, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland