Talk:Shaunak Sastry

By Sachi Anjunkar

Shaunak Sastry is Associate Professor of Communication at University of Cincinnati and Director of The Cincinnati Project, as of November 2022. According to his bio, his research and teaching interests are in the areas of health and culture, globalization and health, and the cultural politics of infectious diseases.

As per his bio, he has published no books, papers or research pertaining to Hindus, rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva.

In 2021, he endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Publications related to India

1. Sastry, Shaunak, and Srividya Ramasubramanian. “The Subcontinent Speaks: Intercultural Communication Perspectives From/on South Asia.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Apr. 2020, pp. 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2020.1745440.
2. Sastry, Shaunak, and Mohan J. Dutta. “Reading HIV/AIDS in the Indian Media: Social, Cultural and Economic Constructions.” Liberalizing, Feminizing and Popularizing Health Communications in Asia, Routledge, 2010, p. 17.
3. Sastry, Shaunak. “Long Distance Truck Drivers and the Structural Context of Health: A Culture-Centered Investigation of Indian Truckers’ Health Narratives.” Health Communication 31 (2016): 230 - 241.