Ishani Saraf

Ishani Saraf is an Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research explores technoscientific discards and their methodological potential for interpreting social life, focusing on transnational scrap trade in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

• PhD in sociocultural anthropology, UC Davis
• MA and MPhil in sociology, Delhi School of Economics
• Former postdoctoral research associate and lecturer at the University of Virginia

Her work examines the intersections of postcolonial capitalism, urban transformation, and environmental governance through the lens of scrap metal markets and dry ports. She investigates the labor, knowledge, and material practices embedded in discards, highlighting their role in redefining categories of production, consumption, and waste in the Anthropocene.

• Supported by Wenner-Gren Foundation and Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds Mellon Research Initiative
• Published on scrap work's place-making capacities, dry port spatiality, and infrastructures of transnational trade
• Focuses on qualitative research methodologies and theoretical affordances of scrap

At MIT, she teaches courses that engage creative approaches to question production and evaluation in understanding global dynamics.