Jaya Menon
Biographic Data
| ID | 643924 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jaya Menon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jaya |
| FAMILY NAME | Menon |
| SIGNATURE | MENON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Shiv Nadar University |
| ORCID | 0009-0002-6777-9357 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Dignity and the Drama of the Death Penalty
This article explores the relationship between the law and personhood, dispossession and dignity. It asks: How might we move beyond a conception of dignity as the bounded property of the liberal, autonomous agent, toward a more capacious understanding of dignity, as the affective relationality between persons? How does the negative force of the death penalty radiate beyond the condemned and exert its power over their loved ones, family, and even …
Confessional Performance: Remorse and the Affective Economy of Parole
Taking the popular podcast series Violation as its point of departure, this article examines the dramaturgy within the parole system, its affective politics, and its performative speech acts to consider its role in the perpetuation of mass incarceration in the United States. By training an eye on the affective economy of parole hearings, this article explores the retributive turn in the criminal legal process in the wake of neoliberal economic re…
Household Archaeology in South Asia
The house has stood proxy for the household in South Asian archaeology. Houses belonging to various periods in South Asia’s past have been cleared and excavated since the early 20th century. Urban centers such as Mohenjodaro (Bronze Age), Bhita, Sirkap, and Indor Khera (early historic), as well as Vijayanagara and Sultan Ghari (medieval and early modern) have revealed a variety of patterns of house forms and settlement layouts. The form of the dw…
Archaeologies of Gender and Childhood in South Asia
While some studies have been undertaken on childhood in South Asia, there is no focused archaeological study on any aspect of gender in this region. Hence, information has been culled from work that only tangentially refers to aspects of gender. Within the constraints at hand, themes of gender and childhood in South Asia can be explored from studies on representation, production, toys, and skeletal remains. For instance, age, gender, masculinity,…
Ephemeral Traces: Archaeology of a Medieval Rural Settlement
For a considerable span of human history, following the adoption of agricultural economies but prior to the emergence of settlements that we label as ‘urban’, small permanent communities or ‘villages’ were the main types of settlements, as also were places intermittently occupied by mobile, nomadic groups. The context of these, however, differed from those small or rural settlements that existed within an integrated network of centres in urban an…
Archaeological places: Negotiations between local communities, archaeologists and the state in India
In South Asia, local communities most often live near or amidst archaeological places. Their lives are in many ways framed and structured by these places. At the same time, these places too are impacted by the communities that live nearby. Archaeological sites in India are being destroyed at a rapid pace, due to increasing population and development pressures. This story gets further complicated by legislative practices of preservation related to…
Households at Work: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Variation in Ceramic Production in North India
This ethnoarchaeological study, carried out in the Upper Ganga Plains of North India, contributes to our understanding of the variation that exists in the organization of household ceramic production. The paper describes techniques, tools and facilities; division of work/tasks; location of production; range of products; differences in the scale and intensity of production between rural and urban households; and interweaves the archaeological impl…
Calling Local/Talking Global: The Cosmo-Politics of the Call-Center Industry
This article considers dramatic performances of cosmopolitan encounters within the transnational framework of the call-center industry in India. Have the virtual intimacies generated by new media and market technologies ushered in a cosmopolitan connectivity? What utopic gestures do we glimpse from portrayals of cross-cultural contact in the age of the copy? By considering the intersection of consumer fantasy, global capital, and the neoliberal s…
Queer Selfhoods in the Shadow of Neoliberal Urbanism
This article explores the political and performative shift in representations of same-sex desire within the context of neoliberal urbanism in Bengaluru, India. The affective shift from labile sexual practices to defiant assertions of sexual identity over the past two decades warrants a conjunctural analysis that tracks the intersections between neoliberal cultures of consumption and liberal rhetorics of equal rights and freedom of choice. Focusin…
Children Playing and Learning: Crafting Ceramics in Ancient Indor Khera
It is only in the recent decade that distinct archaeological studies on children have emerged. One of the ways in which children have been made archaeologically visible has been in the context of craft and learning frameworks where they have been perceived as active agents in the production of material culture. Archaeologically, the work of novice crafters can be discerned through attributes of small size, asymmetrical forms, and other deficienci…
Reading Archaeological Evidence: Ceramic and Terracotta Production at Indor Khera, Uttar Pradesh (200 BCE–500 CE)
While substantial work has been done on Harappan crafts from the point of view of technological processes, spatial contexts and organisation, there is hardly anything that is known about aspects of technology and production in the early historic period. For the latter, the focus has largely been on stray artefacts rather than documenting other kinds of evidence such as debitage or waste, although more contextual information on craft production in…
Archaeological Problems with Specialization
Archaeologists study craft production as it provides information on the ways in which artifacts were produced. Craft specialization is, however, more complicated as it involves not only techniques but also organization. In contrast to anthropology where observation can reveal the scale of production or the amount of resources or time utilized for the practise of a craft, archaeology can make only tentative interpretations. Scale of production, st…
Archaeology and the Construction of Identities in Medieval North India
Archaeologists have at times perceived the early medieval to medieval period as marked by a break at the end of the twelfth century, thus separating the period 700–1200 CE—often described as the ‘Rajput’ period—from the period 1200–1500 CE—commonly designated as the ‘Sultanate’ period. It is frequently believed that this break is manifested in the entire range of archaeological materials with clear changes perceived between the two periods. Moreo…
Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 (review)
Reviewed by: Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 Jisha Menon Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947. By Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2005; pp. 490. $49.95 cloth. Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker's Theatres of Independence constitutes the first major study of post-independence urban Indian theatre and demonstrates her prodigious…
Rehearsing the Partition: Gendered Violence in aur Kitne Tukde
This article argues that the specifically sexual nature of the political violence of the 1947 Partition of British India installs women's bodies as unambiguously sexed and ethnic. Through an analysis of Kirti Jain's 2001 theatre production of Aur Kitne Tukde (How Many Fragments?), I consider how Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs appropriate colonialist and nationalist ideologies surrounding the notion of 'woman' as repository of cultural value. The women…
The Development of “Harappan Culture” As an Archaeological Label: A Case Study of Kathiawar
The Development of “Harappan Culture” as an Archaeological Label: A Case Study of Kathiawar
Archaeological places: Negotiations between local communities, archaeologists and the state in India
In South Asia, local communities most often live near or amidst archaeological places. Their lives are in many ways framed and structured by these places. At the same time, these places too are impacted by the communities that live nearby. Archaeological sites in India are being destroyed at a rapid pace, due to increasing population and development pressures. This story gets further complicated by legislative practices of preservation related to…
Households at Work: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Variation in Ceramic Production in North India
This ethnoarchaeological study, carried out in the Upper Ganga Plains of North India, contributes to our understanding of the variation that exists in the organization of household ceramic production. The paper describes techniques, tools and facilities; division of work/tasks; location of production; range of products; differences in the scale and intensity of production between rural and urban households; and interweaves the archaeological impl…
Rehearsing the Partition: Gendered Violence in aur Kitne Tukde
This article argues that the specifically sexual nature of the political violence of the 1947 Partition of British India installs women's bodies as unambiguously sexed and ethnic. Through an analysis of Kirti Jain's 2001 theatre production of Aur Kitne Tukde (How Many Fragments?), I consider how Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs appropriate colonialist and nationalist ideologies surrounding the notion of 'woman' as repository of cultural value. The women…
Archaeology and the Construction of Identities in Medieval North India
Archaeologists have at times perceived the early medieval to medieval period as marked by a break at the end of the twelfth century, thus separating the period 700–1200 CE—often described as the ‘Rajput’ period—from the period 1200–1500 CE—commonly designated as the ‘Sultanate’ period. It is frequently believed that this break is manifested in the entire range of archaeological materials with clear changes perceived between the two periods. Moreo…
Ephemeral Traces: Archaeology of a Medieval Rural Settlement
For a considerable span of human history, following the adoption of agricultural economies but prior to the emergence of settlements that we label as ‘urban’, small permanent communities or ‘villages’ were the main types of settlements, as also were places intermittently occupied by mobile, nomadic groups. The context of these, however, differed from those small or rural settlements that existed within an integrated network of centres in urban an…
Queer Selfhoods in the Shadow of Neoliberal Urbanism
This article explores the political and performative shift in representations of same-sex desire within the context of neoliberal urbanism in Bengaluru, India. The affective shift from labile sexual practices to defiant assertions of sexual identity over the past two decades warrants a conjunctural analysis that tracks the intersections between neoliberal cultures of consumption and liberal rhetorics of equal rights and freedom of choice. Focusin…
Archaeological Problems with Specialization
Archaeologists study craft production as it provides information on the ways in which artifacts were produced. Craft specialization is, however, more complicated as it involves not only techniques but also organization. In contrast to anthropology where observation can reveal the scale of production or the amount of resources or time utilized for the practise of a craft, archaeology can make only tentative interpretations. Scale of production, st…
The Development of “Harappan Culture” As an Archaeological Label: A Case Study of Kathiawar
The Development of “Harappan Culture” as an Archaeological Label: A Case Study of Kathiawar
Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 (review)
Reviewed by: Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 Jisha Menon Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947. By Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2005; pp. 490. $49.95 cloth. Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker's Theatres of Independence constitutes the first major study of post-independence urban Indian theatre and demonstrates her prodigious…
Rehearsing the Partition: Gendered Violence in aur Kitne Tukde
This article argues that the specifically sexual nature of the political violence of the 1947 Partition of British India installs women's bodies as unambiguously sexed and ethnic. Through an analysis of Kirti Jain's 2001 theatre production of Aur Kitne Tukde (How Many Fragments?), I consider how Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs appropriate colonialist and nationalist ideologies surrounding the notion of 'woman' as repository of cultural value. The women…
Archaeological Problems with Specialization
Archaeologists study craft production as it provides information on the ways in which artifacts were produced. Craft specialization is, however, more complicated as it involves not only techniques but also organization. In contrast to anthropology where observation can reveal the scale of production or the amount of resources or time utilized for the practise of a craft, archaeology can make only tentative interpretations. Scale of production, st…
Archaeology and the Construction of Identities in Medieval North India
Archaeologists have at times perceived the early medieval to medieval period as marked by a break at the end of the twelfth century, thus separating the period 700–1200 CE—often described as the ‘Rajput’ period—from the period 1200–1500 CE—commonly designated as the ‘Sultanate’ period. It is frequently believed that this break is manifested in the entire range of archaeological materials with clear changes perceived between the two periods. Moreo…
Children Playing and Learning: Crafting Ceramics in Ancient Indor Khera
It is only in the recent decade that distinct archaeological studies on children have emerged. One of the ways in which children have been made archaeologically visible has been in the context of craft and learning frameworks where they have been perceived as active agents in the production of material culture. Archaeologically, the work of novice crafters can be discerned through attributes of small size, asymmetrical forms, and other deficienci…
Reading Archaeological Evidence: Ceramic and Terracotta Production at Indor Khera, Uttar Pradesh (200 BCE–500 CE)
While substantial work has been done on Harappan crafts from the point of view of technological processes, spatial contexts and organisation, there is hardly anything that is known about aspects of technology and production in the early historic period. For the latter, the focus has largely been on stray artefacts rather than documenting other kinds of evidence such as debitage or waste, although more contextual information on craft production in…
Calling Local/Talking Global: The Cosmo-Politics of the Call-Center Industry
This article considers dramatic performances of cosmopolitan encounters within the transnational framework of the call-center industry in India. Have the virtual intimacies generated by new media and market technologies ushered in a cosmopolitan connectivity? What utopic gestures do we glimpse from portrayals of cross-cultural contact in the age of the copy? By considering the intersection of consumer fantasy, global capital, and the neoliberal s…
Queer Selfhoods in the Shadow of Neoliberal Urbanism
This article explores the political and performative shift in representations of same-sex desire within the context of neoliberal urbanism in Bengaluru, India. The affective shift from labile sexual practices to defiant assertions of sexual identity over the past two decades warrants a conjunctural analysis that tracks the intersections between neoliberal cultures of consumption and liberal rhetorics of equal rights and freedom of choice. Focusin…
Households at Work: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Variation in Ceramic Production in North India
This ethnoarchaeological study, carried out in the Upper Ganga Plains of North India, contributes to our understanding of the variation that exists in the organization of household ceramic production. The paper describes techniques, tools and facilities; division of work/tasks; location of production; range of products; differences in the scale and intensity of production between rural and urban households; and interweaves the archaeological impl…
Archaeological places: Negotiations between local communities, archaeologists and the state in India
In South Asia, local communities most often live near or amidst archaeological places. Their lives are in many ways framed and structured by these places. At the same time, these places too are impacted by the communities that live nearby. Archaeological sites in India are being destroyed at a rapid pace, due to increasing population and development pressures. This story gets further complicated by legislative practices of preservation related to…
Ephemeral Traces: Archaeology of a Medieval Rural Settlement
For a considerable span of human history, following the adoption of agricultural economies but prior to the emergence of settlements that we label as ‘urban’, small permanent communities or ‘villages’ were the main types of settlements, as also were places intermittently occupied by mobile, nomadic groups. The context of these, however, differed from those small or rural settlements that existed within an integrated network of centres in urban an…
Household Archaeology in South Asia
The house has stood proxy for the household in South Asian archaeology. Houses belonging to various periods in South Asia’s past have been cleared and excavated since the early 20th century. Urban centers such as Mohenjodaro (Bronze Age), Bhita, Sirkap, and Indor Khera (early historic), as well as Vijayanagara and Sultan Ghari (medieval and early modern) have revealed a variety of patterns of house forms and settlement layouts. The form of the dw…
Archaeologies of Gender and Childhood in South Asia
While some studies have been undertaken on childhood in South Asia, there is no focused archaeological study on any aspect of gender in this region. Hence, information has been culled from work that only tangentially refers to aspects of gender. Within the constraints at hand, themes of gender and childhood in South Asia can be explored from studies on representation, production, toys, and skeletal remains. For instance, age, gender, masculinity,…
Confessional Performance: Remorse and the Affective Economy of Parole
Taking the popular podcast series Violation as its point of departure, this article examines the dramaturgy within the parole system, its affective politics, and its performative speech acts to consider its role in the perpetuation of mass incarceration in the United States. By training an eye on the affective economy of parole hearings, this article explores the retributive turn in the criminal legal process in the wake of neoliberal economic re…
Dignity and the Drama of the Death Penalty
This article explores the relationship between the law and personhood, dispossession and dignity. It asks: How might we move beyond a conception of dignity as the bounded property of the liberal, autonomous agent, toward a more capacious understanding of dignity, as the affective relationality between persons? How does the negative force of the death penalty radiate beyond the condemned and exert its power over their loved ones, family, and even …
Archaeology (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · History (10 works) · Art (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · History (7 works) · Aesthetics (5 works)