Photo of Murali, Deepthi

Deepthi Murali

PhD 2020: South Asia (Kerala, India), 1750-Present

About

Deepthi Murali studies intersensorial production and use of art objects that served as actors in colonial, political, and cultural processes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in southwestern India. Her dissertation "Politics and Transculturality of the Arts of Kerala, India" examines the lives of historical objects from their inception as raw materials to their current roles as things within museum collections with contested or neglected histories. Her work explores issues of transculturality, intersensoriality, colonialism, and decolonization practices within museum-like spaces.

Deepthi has been the recipient of numerous awards including an endowed research fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies (2017-18), research grant from the Paul Mellon Center for British Art (2016), UIC Chancellor's Award (2015-2016), UIC Provost Award for Graduate Research (2014). In Summer 2019, Deepthi will serve as a Career Diversity Fellow with the Humanities Without Walls Consortium.

Education

MS Historic Preservation, University of Texas at Austin, 2010
BArch, Bangalore University (India), 2008