Progress Paradox: Exploring the Intersections of Psychiatry Development and Death in Tharparkar, Pakistan

The PhD project examines unintended consequences of development programmes on mental health and the underlying neoliberal logics that govern the psychiatric care provided as an antidote to rising suicide numbers in Tharparkar region of Sindh, Pakistan.

Drawing on critical global health, anthropology of development, and medical anthropology, this project focusses on how mental health actors—psychiatrists, police officers, lady health workers, public health officials, and private and development sector professionals—broker and translate psy-discourses in a rapidly modernising region. Against the backdrop of ongoing coal extraction, subsequent transforming ecologies and shifting politics in Tharparkar, the research aims to nuance the public understanding around development and health inequities and contribute to growing literature on the subject in South Asia.