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Philippa Williams

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Queen Mary University of London
My research and teaching intersects political, economic and development geography, with a focus on everyday political life in India and its transnational community. More specifically, I am interested in questions concerning how the state is experienced, how citizenship is articulated and how marginality, particularly in the context of violence/nonviolence is lived. My current projects in India explore the impact of digital transformations on everyday life especially digital payments systems and digitally mediated work, and in the UK, the lived implications of the UK government’s hostile immigration policy for recent South Asian migrants.

I completed an ESRC-funded PhD in Geography at the University of Cambridge before taking up a Research Fellowship at the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge. I have been at QMUL since January 2013 and am currently the Senior Tutor in the School of Geography, supporting students with their wellbeing and studies.

My book on Everyday Peace?: Politics, Citizenship and Muslim Lives in India is published by the RGS-IBG Book Series and was awarded the 2016 Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award by the Political Geography Speciality Group at the American Association of Geographers. I also have an edited book on Geographies of Peace with Nick Megoran and Fiona McConnell.

I recently received funding from WhatsApp to examine the role of the messaging service in everyday political conversations in India in the context of India’s social media ecosystem.

WhatsApp's controversial privacy update may be banned in the EU – but the app's sights are fixed on India

May 16, 2021 12:14 pm UTC| Technology

The roll out of WhatsApps new privacy policy, which critics warn will lead to more data sharing with its parent company Facebook, received a blow on May 13 after German regulators temporarily banned the update. The...

India's WhatsApp election: political parties risk undermining democracy with technology

Mar 01, 2019 13:48 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology Politics

Indias 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the WhatsApp elections. Against a backdrop of rapidly improving internet connectivity and rising smartphone use, the number of people using private messaging...

Economy

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Extraordinary Vietnam fraud case exposes the inherent vulnerabilities of banks

The financial crisis of 2008 showed just how much the world depends on banks being well run. Since then, regulators have been given new powers to keep some of the biggest institutions on a much shorter leash to stamp out...

Politics

Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board

To say that the Labour party is flying high in the polls is something of an understatement. But despite its consistent lead against the Tories, the opposition finds itself in a rather odd position: on the cusp of power but...

History for sale: what does South Africa’s struggle heritage mean after 30 years of democracy?

One of my favourite statues is the one of Nelson Mandela at the Sandton City shopping centre in Johannesburg. Larger than life, its oversized bronze shoes shimmer in the evening light, polished by the hands of many...

Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight

In the early hours of April 15 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a Sudanese paramilitary force attacked the military airstrip in the town of Merowe and deployed troops across strategic locations in Sudans capital,...

Military conscription is returning to Europe, but is it really a more equal way of mobilising? What history tells us

The idea that conscription, defined as the compulsory enlistment of citizens for military service, can increase equality and instil a sense of solidarity that transcends traditional societal divides has echoed throughout...

The 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution

Across Portugal, a number of photography exhibitions are currently on display that commemorate the ousting of the Estado Novo, the dictatorial, authoritarian and corporatist political regime that had ruled the country...

Science

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, has died aged 94. He was always a modest man, especially when considering that he was one of the greats of particle physics the area of...

Could a telescope ever see the beginning of time? An astronomer explains

The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST for short, is one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. Planning for JWST began over 25 years ago, and construction efforts spanned over a decade. It was launched into space on...

US media coverage of new science less likely to mention researchers with African and East Asian names

When one Chinese national recently petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become a permanent resident, he thought his chances were pretty good. As an accomplished biologist, he figured that news...

Technology

Anthropic Launches Claude AI App on iPhone to Rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Anthropic PBC, an artificial intelligence startup established in 2021, announced on Wednesday, May 1, that it launched an iOS app for its Claude 3 AI chatbot or language models. The company also unveiled a new subscription...

Shiba Inu Whale Moves 100 Billion SHIB Before FOMC, Signals Market Stir

In a surprising move, a mysterious Shiba Inu whale deposited 100 billion SHIB tokens into Coinbase, coinciding with a significant price drop just before the Federal Reserves crucial rate decision. This action has stirred...

Dongfeng Unveils High-Power Tesla Cybertruck Rival, Eyes Production in Italy

At the Beijing Auto Show, Dongfeng Motor Group showcased a Cybertruck-inspired electric vehicle boasting an impressive 1,305 horsepower, signaling its ambitions to produce over 100,000 electrified cars annually in Italy....

Biden Administration Set to Finalize Stricter EV Tax Credit Rules

The Biden administration is finalizing new electric vehicle tax credit rules, slashing the list of eligible models to just 13. This update, part of a broader effort to refine economic incentives before the election,...

Zeus Network Set to Launch Solana to Bitcoin Bridge in Q3 2024

Zeus Network has announced the launch of Zeus Program Library (ZPL) by Q3 2024, a pioneering bridge designed to connect and enhance asset transfer between the Solana and Bitcoin ecosystems, offering broad applications in...