Kooshna Gupta

Kooshna Gupta is working towards a PhD in Anthropology (Ethnomusicology) at the University of Auckland.

Kooshna Gupta is working towards a PhD in Anthropology (Ethnomusicology) at the University of Auckland. She is writing a research on the representation of women in Hindi film song scenes between 1988 and 2013.  Her study deals with issues of gender, performativity and popular culture. She seeks to understand how the images, narrative content and ideologies that emerge from song and dance sequences help in shaping the development of Hindi cinema.

She has a first PhD in Linguistics from Gujarat University (India) for her research topic: Code-Mixing in Bollywood Movies. The study focuses on the sociolinguistic aspects of Hindi films (between 2009 and 2014) at four different levels: titles, taglines, lyrics and dialogues; and aims to understand the linguistic engagement between films and Indian viewers. She also has a Master of Arts in Linguistics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (India), her thesis deals with the Segmental Phonology of Mauritian Creole.

Kooshna has held various teaching and professional positions since 2007 in Mauritius and India. Currently, she is working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Anthropology at the University of Auckland. Her research interests include Hindi cinema, film and gender studies, sociolinguistics and Indian diaspora.