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Thounaojam Somokanta
PhD (Central University of Gujarat, India, 2016 )
Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Research Interest
Urban sustainability, energy transition, climate governance, coalition studies, transboundary water studies, resource politics, environmental movement, environmental conflict, gender and society, science and technology studies
Office
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur - 208016
Education
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 2019
PhD, Central University of Gujarat, India, 2016
MPhil, Central University of Gujarat, India, 2012
MA, Maharaja Sayajirao University, India, 2010
BA, Maharaja Sayajirao University, India, 2008
Selected Publications
BOOKT. Somokanta, 2018, Large Dams in India: The Missing Dimension of Science, Technology and Society (STS), Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
JOURNAL ARTICLESomokanta, 2022, Urban Climate Change Experiments in Gandhinagar City, India, Urban Climate, 43, 101149.
Somokanta, E. Feitelson, A. Tubi, 2021, South Asian Dams at a Tipping Point? The Case of Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur, India, Water Alternatives 14, pp. 491-519
Sapana Devi and T. Somokanta, 2016, Case of Education in a Conflict Ridden State, Manipur: A Narrative Analysis, Economic and Political Weekly 51, pp. 52-59.
Premi Devi and T. Somokanta, 2016, Gender, Technology and Work: Case Study of Women Employees in Selected Food Processing Industries in Manipur, Gender, Technology and Development 20, pp. 81-104.
Somokanta, 2014, Sociological Understanding of Risks: An Empirical Case of Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur, India, International Journal of Innovation and Sustainability Development 8, pp. 363-379.
Awards & Fellowships
2018 - 19, Postdoctoral Fellowship (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
2017, Postdoctoral Fellowship (Centre for Responsible Business)
2016, Author Aid Gender Travel Grant (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications Limited)
2016, Conference Travel Grant (University of Sussex)
2015, Conference Travel Grant (European Manipuri Association)
2014, Conference Travel Grant (Nanyang Technological University)
2013, STEPS Summer School Scholarship (University of Sussex)
2013, Conference Travel Grant (George Washington University & Central University of Gujarat)
2010, 2nd Position in Master of Arts in Sociology (final year) (Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda)
2010, National Eligibility Test for Assistant Professorship in Sociology (University Grant Commission)
Conference Presentations
T. Somokanta, ‘Urban Climate Change Experiments in Gandhinagar, India’, 20th Annual Science, Technology and Society Graz Conference (online), Austria, May 2022.
T. Somokanta, ‘The Shifting Discourse of Hydroelectric Dams in Neoliberal India”, Authors’ Webinar on Political Economy of New Technology in India: Concerns and Potentials at Gujarat Institute of Development Research and Madras Institute of Development Studies, June 2021.
T. Somokanta, ‘Experiments for Sustainability Transitions in Gandhinagar City of India’, The Annual Conference for Science and Environment on Challenges in Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, June 2018.
K. Sapana Devi and T. Somokanta, ‘Understanding the Linkages of Education, Conflict and Students: Case of Manipur, India’, Children and Young People in a Changing World: Action, Agency and Participation Conference at the Liverpool Hope University, England, June 2016 (presented by K. Sapana Devi)
W. Premi Devi and T. Somokanta, ‘Gender, Technology and Work Relations: Case of Women Employees in Food Processing Industries in Manipur, India’, The 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology at the University of Vienna, Austria, July 2016 (presented by T.Somokanta)
T. Somokanta, ‘Geographical Contexts of Sustainability Transitions: A Case of Gandhinagar Model Solar City’, The 6th International Conference of Sustainability Transitions at the University of Sussex, England, August 2015
T. Somokanta, ‘Environmental Movement and Grassroots Innovation of Bamboo Bicycle: Introducing Sustainability Transitions Thinking in Imphal City of Manipur’, The Royal Geographical Society Conference at University of Exeter, England, September 2015.
T. Somokanta, ‘Exploring the grassroots innovation of Bamboo bicycle in Imphal city of Manipur: Geography of sustainability transitions perspective’, The International Conference on Creativity and Innovations at Grassroots, at the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad, India, January 2015.
T. Somokanta, ‘Sociological Understanding of Risk: An Empirical Case Study of Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur, India’, The Global STS Conference at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, March 2014.
T. Somokanta, ‘Theory-Empiric Understanding of Science, Technology and Society: A Study on Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur’, ST Global Consortium Science & Technology in Society Conference at the National Academics, Washington, April 2013.
T. Somokanta, ‘Development Project and the Risk of Ecosystem In North East India: A Case Of Tipaimukh Dam In Manipur’, The International Conference on Global
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability in the 21st Century at the Assam University, India, February 2012.
T. Somokanta, ‘Resistance and Environmental Risk of Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur’, The Globalization and Social Transformation: The Indian Experience at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, February 2012.
Academic Positions
- Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India (February 2022 till now)
- Assistant Professor of Sociology (guest), Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India (December 2021 February 2022)
- Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (January 2018 September 2019)
- Assistant Professor of Sociology (guest), Department of Sociology, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi, India (July November 2017)
- Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Responsible Business, India (March July 2017)