Leilah Vevaina

Leilah Vevaina is a PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology at the New School for Social Research. She has an MA in Anthropology from The New School (2007) as well as an MA in Social Thought from New York University (2005). Her research lies in the intersection of urban property and religious life within the legal regimes of contemporary India. She has conducted fieldwork in Mumbai, India with specific focus on the Indian Zoroastrian, or Parsi community, with generous support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation as well as the American Institute of Indian Studies. Preliminary fieldwork was also supported by the India China Institute at The New School. She finished her dissertation entitled, “Community By Design: Parsis & Property in Mumbai” which focuses specifically on religious endowments and the trust as a mechanism of property management in the city.

Leilah also has teaching experience at The New School in Anthropology as well as within the Parsons School of Design, where she trains students in ethnographic methods. She has taught classes on the Anthropology of Politics as well as on Minorities and Economic Life. Her research has produced a forthcoming article on the current state of the Zoroastrian funerary grounds in Mumbai entitled, “Excarnation & the City: The Tower of Silence Debates in Mumbai”, as part of the edited volume, Mobile Boundaries: Religion in Urban Spaces.