Rahul Rose

Rahul Rose is a psychological anthropologist who carries out ethnographic research in the UK and India. His areas of interest include Hinduism, mental health, and the relationship between the mind and broader social, cultural and technological forces. He also has an interest in Indian classical music.

His doctoral work provides a novel framework for how anthropologists might approach the psycho-bodily capacity of attention, treating it not only as an ever-present aspect of experience, but also as a major, yet often neglected, site of moral concern around which groups attempt to make up the self. As proof of concept, his research uncovers a previously un-identified attentionalist strain in South Asian ritual, political, and aesthetic culture – showing it to be a major influence on the development of the region’s colonial history and religion.

Rahul is currently engaged in developing the anthropology of attention as a nascent sub-discipline, bringing together scholars working in this area in two special issue journal collections as well as numerous events around Europe. Aside from this, he is also interested in the anthropology of mental health, and is working on a project looking at the history of psychiatric note taking practices in London.

Prior to academia, Rahul worked as a journalist and NGO researcher, specialising in economic crime and anti-corruption.

Expertise details:

Attention; mental health; media and digital technology; anthropology of the self and mind; Hinduism; Indian classical music