The One Where I Talk To Sociology Professor, Dr Ketaki Chowkhani

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In this week's episode, I talk to professor Ketaki Chowkhani. 

Dr Ketaki Chowkhani is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Manipal Centre for Humanities. Single and childfree herself, Ketaki designed and teaches India's first ever course on Singles Studies, and her writing on singlehood has appeared in the New York Times, The Hindu, Psychology Today, and Square Peg UK, among others. Her writing and teaching on singlehood has been mentioned in The Guardian, the New Statesman UK, and The Hindu.  

Topics that Ketaki & I cover are:

• her story around being single and childfree;
• how her conviction about single life being right for her has been a gradual process;
• how both of us feel as though we’re ‘single at heart’;
• how Ketaki came to create and teach India’s first course in single studies;
• the one main difference between being a single woman in India and being a single woman in the west;
• how Ketaki’s parent have responded to her life choices in terms of being single;
• the pressure she has had to deal with from her extended family;
• her essay in Angelica Malin’s book, Unattached;
• being a trailblazer for single women;
• some of the ways in which singles are discriminated against, and the common stereotypes;
• Ketaki’s research into what is making single hood possible / easy or not, i.e. housing, laws, and what can be done to improve things;
• how provisions for single people can affect whether or not someone stays in an abusive relationship, and how important it is to make singlehood desirable;
• reclaiming the term ‘spinster’ which Ketaki also uses in her Instagram handle!

Follow Ketaki on Instagram: 
@spinster.adventures

Follow Ketaki on Twitter:
@chowkhani

Read Ketaki’s essay in Angelica Malin’s book, Unattached (UK Link):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unattached-Essays-Singlehood-Angelica-Malin/dp/1529110394 

US Link to the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Unattached-Essays-Singlehood-Angelica-Malin-ebook/dp/B0946G7RX7