Mehak Sawhney
Mehak Sawhney is a Montréal-based researcher and activist with research interests in sound and media cultures of South Asia. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Communication Studies at McGill University where her doctoral project explores audio surveillance and the weaponization of sound and listening technologies in postcolonial India. As a former researcher at the M.S. Merian – R. Tagore International Centre of Advanced Studies ‘Metamorphoses of the Political’ (ICAS:MP), her work explored urban sound and listening cultures, specifically mapping the ways in which voice technologies and navigation shape contemporary urban soundscapes. She has been associated with Sarai, the media research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi, since 2017. Her ethnographic work at Sarai explored voice interfaces in India with a focus on machine listening in the domains of law and telecommunications. Mehak holds an MA and MPhil in English Literature from Delhi University.