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Nikita Kaur Simpson to launch 'Tension' at Sydney event
Dr. Nikita Simpson is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at SOAS University of London and Co-Director of CAMHRA.
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Staff Reporter - Mon, 22, Jun 2026
- 05:26 EDT
- 37
Nikita Kaur Simpson and cover of her book 'Tension' / Nikita Kaur Simpson via LinkedIn and Duke University Press
Indian-origin anthropologist Nikita Kaur Simpson would be officially launching her latest book, 'Tension', on June 25, in Sydney.
As part of the book-launch, Kaur Simpson would take part in a panel discussion with Sophie Chao, Warwick Anderson, Seye Abimbola, and Michael Edwards.
In her book, she explores how the Gaddi community in the Himalayas experiences emotional and physical distress amid rapid social, economic, and environmental change.
Published by Duke University Press, Tension examines how experiences of distress among the Gaddi people offer insights into the human consequences of rapid development, social inequality, and environmental transformation in the Himalayas.
The Gaddis are a traditionally pastoral community inhabiting parts of Himachal Pradesh and the western Himalayas, where changing economic and environmental conditions have reshaped livelihoods and social relations.
Through ethnographic research, the book examines how “tension” reflects the hidden impacts of inequality, modernization, and displacement on everyday life.
In doing so, she shows how “tension” acts as an everyday diagnostic of the problems of cultural, economic and environmental change as they shape intimate life.
Dr. Nikita Simpson is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at SOAS University of London and Co-Director of the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA).
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Her research focuses on the intersections of mental distress, inequality, and lived experience, drawing on ethnographic and policy-oriented work conducted across India, the United Kingdom, Southern Africa, and Australia.
Dr. Nikita Kaur Simpson holds a PhD and a Master's degree in Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Bachelor of Politics, Psychology and Sociology, Social Anthropology degree from the University of Cambridge.
Joining her for the discussion are Dr. Sophie Chao, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney, whose work examines the relationships between ecology, capitalism, health, food, and justice in the Pacific and Professor Warwick Anderson, the Janet Dora Hine Professor of Politics, Governance and Ethics and leader of the Politics, Governance and Ethics Theme at the Charles Perkins Centre.
Other panelists include Professor Seye Abimbola of the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, whose research explores knowledge production and epistemic practices in health systems and global health; and Dr. Michael Edwards, Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney, whose scholarship focuses on religious life, media ecology, and political change in South Asia.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
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