Vikas Kumar

About Vikas Kumar

My work is situated at the intersection of Affect Theory and contemporary Indian politics, engaging with the Spinozist–Deleuzian understanding of affect as intensity, capacity, and relational force. I examine how affective economies—circulating through fear, hope, resentment, and desire constitute political subjectivities and sustain ideological formations beyond rational-institutional frameworks.My research focuses on mass politics and political subject formation, analysing how bodies, emotions, and everyday attachments become sites of political investment and mobilisation. Drawing on thinkers such as Spinoza, Deleuze, and Sara Ahmed, I explore the imbrication of affect, power, and discourse in shaping collective life.My broader interests include social movements and behavioral studies, with particular attention to neoliberal regimes of desire, the production of “good life” imaginaries, and their implications for agency, belonging, and resistance.

Experience

1. Assistant Professor

   upGrad

   May 2023 — Present · Delhi, IN

   Teaching Political Theory (Master’s level), with Teaching Political Theory (Master’s level) with an emphasis on critical inquiry, conceptual clarity, and connecting theory with contemporary political realities.

Education

• Banaras Hindu University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Psychology

• Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

  Master of Philosophy(MPhil), Political Science and Government

• Delhi University

  Master's degree, Political science

  2017 — 2019