Dr. Siganporia is a cultural historian and semiotician whose work explores the intersections of history, culture, and identity. Her research examines social reform movements in modern India, with particular emphasis on Western India in the late-19th century, Gandhi studies, gender dynamics, and ecophilosophy.
She has authored three critically acclaimed books, including I am the Widow: An Intellectual Biography of Behramji Malabari (Orient Blackswan, 2018), which won the Prof. Sneh Mahajan Award for Best Book in Modern Indian History (2015-2018) by the Indian History Congress. Her second book, Walking from Dandi: In Search of Vikas (Oxford University Press, 2022), continues her exploration of Gandhian thought and development discourse. Her third book, Still Life with Sabarmati: Nature in the Age of Vikas, is forthcoming in 2025/2026.
Before joining MICA as Associate Faculty in 2010 and later as Assistant Professor in 2015, Dr. Siganporia worked as a News Correspondent in the Editorial Department at Daily News and Analysis (DNA) from 2007 to 2009. She has also taught at DA-IICT and St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad.
Dr. Siganporia has been a visiting scholar at prestigious institutions including the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. She was awarded the Sabarmati Fellowship in 2017 and the Charles Wallace Research Grant in 2012. She is a member of the Culture Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA) and Contemporary Ethnography Across Disciplines (CEAD).
As Chief Semiotics Consultant to cultural research agency FreshThink, she has worked on decoding luxury in premium alco-bev and intimacy in contemporary India. She also leads the Leadership and Management Development Programme “Decoding Consumer Cultures Online: Tools from Anthropology and Semiotics.”