Anandi is a Reader in Post-Colonial Cultures and Senior Lecturer in Media here at Sheffield Hallam University. Her primary research interests are focused on critically analysing ‘race’ and postcoloniality in media and culture to challenge hegemonies and give voice to the voiceless.
Her first book, Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising analysed various conflicting and changing ideologies of colonialism and racism in British advertising. Her most recent book, Asian Youth Movements in Britain. Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movements was based on interviews with dozens of participants as well as a digital archive of materials. The development of the archive was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Anandi’s interest in people’s histories has also led her to collect Partition stories in Pakistan to consider the role of not just fear and violence, but also class relations that were communalised in pre-partition Punjab.