LEC Voices presents Mayur Helia, PhD student in Human Geography at the Lancaster Environment Centre

Posted on by Mayur Helia

Mayur stood on Lancaster canal

LEC Voices aims to provide a platform for sharing a diverse range of experiences of both staff and students across the Lancaster Environment Centre.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am an interdisciplinary researcher, currently undertaking my PhD in Human Geography at Lancaster Environment Center (LEC). My educational and research background include a bachelor’s degree in political sciences from Wilson College, Mumbai and a master’s in social work with a specialisation in Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Later, I was a research assistant working with Columbia University’s project: a randomised control trial (RCT) on water policy and politics in Mumbai. I also worked briefly at JPAL South Asia on a RCT pilot project on WhatsApp and electoral politics in Bihar. During Covid, I enrolled in MPhil in Development Studies at TISS.

Before joining Lancaster and becoming a full-time scholar, I was living a dual life. In the day, I was a student/researcher. At night, I worked as a sanitation worker in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. This was not an occupation that I chose but was rather imposed on me, like many other Dalits by the caste or varna system. I joined as a sanitation worker after my father’s death at the age of eighteen. It took my family four generations to get out of this caste-based occupation. My experiences of working on the ground while also pursuing formal studies motivated me to pursue anti-caste research and dialogue. I have witnessed the technical, administrative, social, political and personal intersections of my area of study from close range. I hope to use it to not only create and share knowledge but to actively change a system that keeps Dalits, especially young people like me, from pursuing a life of their choice.

What led you to Lancaster?

For me, Dr Sally Cawood and her work were what made me consider Lancaster and LEC. Honestly, I considered other universities in US for two reasons: First, it was easier to get funding along with a PhD admission. Second, in many universities in US caste is in the protected category, so students, especially from marginalised caste group are safeguarded, from caste-based discrimination. A friend shared a funded PhD opportunity under “Hazardous Sanitation Labour” led by Dr Sally Cawood. After getting to know her work closely, I applied and was accepted. Durgesh Solanki, who is a friend, mentor and role model, helped me in getting this PhD admission. I want to also highlight the important role that Sally played in bringing me here. I was supposed to join the PhD program in October 2022, but there were a lot of financial and other constraints. I had to defer my admission by two semesters before joining in April 2023. Sally also helped me get financial support from LEC, ensuring that I had a fair chance like other scholars.

Tell us about your research?

My research, using community research approach along with autoethnography, focuses on the past and present systems of surveillance and resistance amongst Dalits in sanitation labour. It builds a framework (Brahmanical Panopticon) that centers caste, surveillance, and resistance to explain how caste-based social order is maintained and reproduced. I approach this project from an insiders’ understanding—a position that has too often been overlooked in academia. I am a fourth-generation ex-sanitation worker, who has worked for more than 12 years in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The caste system is one of the oldest forms of systematic oppression and exploitation, where Dalits were othered, through endogamy, untouchability and predetermined caste-based labour, like sanitation work. In the past, Dalits were surveilled through a broom on their waist, by which privileged castes could track and control their everyday moments. The British colonial administration introduced a human surveillance system with industrialisation to discipline and control Dalit sanitation workers. At present, the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission has put in place modern surveillance techniques, like smartwatches and face recognition and are planning on using Artificial Intelligence (AI), to track sanitation workers across India. My study contributes to Surveillance, Critical Caste and Resistance Studies, the Brahmanical Panopticon explains Dalit lived realities from an insiders’ knowledge. This framing brings Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze into conversation with Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar to examine historical and contemporary forms of surveillance. In resistance, Foucault’s counter-conduct is placed with Ambedkar’s anti-caste resistance to highlight collective institution building for and by Dalits in breaking the Brahmanical Panopticon.

I am doing my PhD via publication. The two papers centering caste and surveillance are already under review in peer-review journals. I plan to submit my third paper on resistance and social movement to a journal soon.

What's been the biggest highlight at Lancaster?

The highlight has been the research environment and support fostered by the team at Human Geography. I have an incredibly supportive supervisory team to help me with my project including Dr Cawood and Dr Kai Heron. Both have been central to my journey in Lancaster. Dr Emma Cardwell and Dr Nikita Mehta have also been an important part of it. The PhD review process has helped me grow. Similarly, Work-In-Progress (WiP) has assisted in building my confidence for bigger conferences. The PGR team has always been helpful. There is a sense of community. In this, having an office for human geographers has been crucial.

Have there been any challenges?

One of the major challenges was that in the initial stages, I struggled to find recent and updated anti-caste literature at Lancaster University library. However, the library team were helpful in providing any literature that I needed. In future, I hope that caste is put under the protected category in the UK.

What comes next for you?

I am planning to submit my thesis by January 2027. I am looking for post-doctoral and teaching positions after completing my PhD. I want to stay in academia and use my positionality to amplify anti-caste and anti-colonial research. I aim to work and collaborate with students/researchers from marginalised backgrounds and true allies.

If you would like to find out more about research at the Lancaster Environment Centre, visit our Research webpages.

If you would like to find out more about Inclusive Lancaster, including Decolonising Lancaster, visit our EDI Hub.

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