大象传媒

Education

• 2014, Ph.D., Anthropology- Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• 2011, M.A., Anthropology - Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• 2007,  B.Sc., Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007, B.A., English Literature, The University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ

Biography

Vaibhav Saria received their PhD in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University in 2014, and is currently assistant professor of gender, sexuality, and women鈥檚 studies at 大象传媒. Their research explores topics at the intersection of gender, sexuality, poverty, and health studies. Their book Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India was published by Fordham University Press and won multiple awards including the Joseph W. Elder Prize by the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Ruth Benedict Book Prize from the Association for Queer Anthropology in 2021. Saria was also a member of , an international team of researchers working to advance methodologies to measure and improve the quality of tuberculosis care. The timely importance of their research on tuberculosis was underscored by its overlaps with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. They are currently working on two research projects: a culturally comparative approach to MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) and queer archives left behind by the South Asian diaspora to rethink affordances of liberalism.

Teaching

• Intro to Porn Studies
• Global Trans Health
• Gender and Sexuality in South Asia
• Global Health: Poverty, Panic, and Pandemics
• Forty Years of AIDS: Fatigue, Failure, and Fantasies

Publications 

2025, The Bait of Falsehood, the Carp of Truth. Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory.

2024, Das, V and Saria, V. Embracing Ignorance: A Jagged Path to Learning Between the Global and the Local. Iride: Journal of Philosophy and Public Debate

2023, Saria, V., Das, V., Pai, M., Das, J., Daniels, B. The Family Doctor: Health, Kinship and Primary Care in Patna. Anthropology & Medicine 

2021, Das, V., Daniels, B. Kwan, A., Saria, V., Das, R., Pai, M., Das, J. Simulated Patients and Their Reality: An Inquiry into Theory and Method. Social Science and Medicine.

2021, Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India. New York: Fordham University Press.

2020, The Queer Narrator: Violence, Ethics, and Sexuality GLQ

2020, New Machine, Old Cough: Technology and Tuberculosis in Patna.  Frontiers in Sociology, (03 April 2020).  

2019, Begging for Change: Hijras, Law and Nationalism. Contributions to Indian Sociology, (January 2019).

2018, Kwan, A., Daniels, B., Saria, V [et al]. Variations in the Quality of Tuberculosis Care in Urban India: A Standardized Patient Study in Two Cities. PLoS Med 15(9): e1002653.

2018, Pilgrim N, Jani N, Mathur S, Kahabuka C, Saria V, Makyao N, et al. Provider Perspectives on PrEP for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Tanzania: The Role of Provider Biases and Quality of Care. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0196280.

2015, The Pregnant Hijra: Laughter, Dead Babies and Invaluable Love, in Living and Dying in the Contemporary World: A Compendium. Veena Das and Clara Han, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press. 83-99.

2015, To Be Some Other Name: The Naming Games that Hijras Play. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. Vol 12.

2017, The Ungovernable and Dangerous: Children, Sexuality, and Anthropology in The Way We Stretch Toward One Another: Thoughts on Anthropology through the Work of Pamela Reynolds, Todd Meyers, ed. African Books Collective. 71-93.

Research

Medical Anthropology, Global Health, Kinship, Psychoanalysis, HIV/AIDS, South Asia, Children/ Childhood Studies

Awards

• 2025, Early Career Research Excellence Award in Humanities, 大象传媒
• Honorable Mention, 2023 Anne Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize, Human Sexuality & Anthropology Interest Group
• 2023 Bernard S. Cohn Prize, Association for Asian Studies
• 2022 Dean鈥檚 Award for Academic Excellence
• 2021 Ruth Benedict Book Prize for Outstanding Monograph, Association for Queer Anthropology
• 2021 Joseph W. Elder Prize in Indian Social Sciences, American Institute of Indian Studies