Prerna Gupta
PhD Candidate, Simons Graduate Award in Disarmament, Global and Human Security Recipient, Public Scholar, Global Reporting Program Fellow, James and Setsuko Thurlow Scholarship in Peace and Disarmament Studies recipient https://globalreportingprogram.org/about/fellows/
Contact Details
Research Interests
Energy technologies, Nuclear energy, Nuclear weapons and disarmament, risk perception, social movements, survey methodology, uranium mining
Bio
Prerna’s PhD research investigates what cultural, economic and political factors affect people’s acceptance or rejection of nuclear energy in India. She has been engaging with nuclear issues for more than six years both academically and through civil action. Prerna’s Master’s thesis “Normalising Nuclear: A cultural study of how India learnt to love the bomb” was completed at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. It explores how a nation once invested in the Gandhian ideals of non-violence came to embrace a weapon of mass destruction from a cultural studies perspective. Her experience with various social movements drives her passion for socially relevant research and creative projects. She is also a documentary filmmaker and is interested in exploring the relevance of the form of documentary for research in social sciences. Her previous documentary films include: “Kadak Bai”, the story of a daily wage female worker who struggles to feed her family during India’s demonetization and “Like Dust We Rise”, the struggles of contract sanitation workers at the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
Featured Publications
Ramana, M.V., and Prerna Gupta. “India.” Assuring Destruction Forever: 2022 Edition. Reaching Critical Will, January 2022.
https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Publications/modernization/india-2022.pdf.
Gupta, Prerna, and M.V. Ramana. “India.” Assuring Destruction Forever: 2020 Edition. Reaching Critical Will, June 2020. https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Publications/modernization/india-2020.pdf.
Gupta, Prerna. “Why the TN Electricity Distributor Is in Conflict with Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.” The News Minute, August 28, 2019.
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-tn-electricity-distributor-conflict-kudankulam-nuclear-power-plant-107983.
Gupta, Prerna, and M V Ramana. “A Decade After the Nuclear Deal.” The India Forum, April 3, 2019.
https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/decade-after-nuclear-deal.
Gupta, Prerna. “Accident Kills Three Workers in Uranium Mine: India’s Nuclear Dream, Adivasis’ Nightmare | Wise International.” Nuclear Monitor, June 15, 2016. https://wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/825/accident-kills-three-workers-uranium-mine-indias-nuclear-dream-adivasis.
Gupta, Prerna, and Kumar Sundaram. “India’s Nuclear Dream Is Turning out to Be a Nightmare for Adivasis in Jharkhand.” Scroll.In. May 31, 2016.
http://scroll.in/article/809049/indias-nuclear-dream-is-turning-out-to-be-a-nightmare-for-adivasis-in-jharkhand.