Sugandh Gupta, PhD

Assistant Professor

Cultural Anthropology

Sugandh Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida, specializing in cultural, medical, and psychological anthropology, with a focus on militarism and mental health, care and psychiatry, and addiction and recovery studies in South Asia. For the past decade, her ethnographic research has examined communities affected by opioid addiction, military presence, and political marginality in Jammu City, Jammu & Kashmir, illuminating the social, psychological, and political aspects of addiction and recovery; care infrastructure; and mental health in an environment of conflict. Dr. Gupta was a founding member of the Indian Association of Health, Research, and Welfare (IAHRW) and co-editor of PsyInsight magazine and has served in leadership roles with the Society for Psychological Anthropology and the Society for Medical Anthropology.

Areas of Specialization

  • Medical Anthropology & Psychological Anthropology
  • Mental Health and Addiction
  • South Asia

Courses Taught

List of courses taught, including title and how often each is offered.
Course Title Frequency
ANT 2000 - Introduction to General Anthropology Annually
ANT 3478 - Global Health Culture As Needed
ANT 3930 - Anthropology of Addiction Annually
ANT 3930 - Anthropology of Care Annually
ANT 4495 - Ethnographic Methods As Needed
ANT__ - Anthropology of Psychiatry and Madness As Needed
ANT__ - Addiction and Care As Needed

Education

  • Ph.D. Anthropology, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 2025
  • Masters in Anthropology, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 2018
  • M.A. Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, India, 2011
  • B.A. Applied Psychology, Gargi College, University of Delhi, India, 2009

Publications & Profiles

Publications (ORCiD)
Google Scholar
LinkedIn

Featured Research

Fieldwork When the World Shuts Down
Anthropologist Sugandh Gupta reflects on conducting fieldwork amid curfews, political upheaval, and military presence in Jammu and Kashmir, revealing how instability reshaped addiction treatment, everyday life, and the experience of doing research itself.
Photograph shows a crowded indoor corridor with people standing and sitting, likely waiting for services at a clinic or public facility. Adults wear colorful clothing, with doors, barred windows, and a bright doorway framing a congested passage.
Corridor at the psychiatric hospital. Photo credit: Sugandh Gupta
Gupta, S. (2024, August 17). Section 144: Fieldwork in a curfew. Somatosphere.
When Care and Control Collide in a Hospital
In Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Gupta examines how the transformation of a psychiatric hospital into a site of military occupation and COVID-19 isolation reshaped access to addiction treatment, revealing how care, policing, and political power can become deeply intertwined.
Photograph showing entrance to a psychiatric center and COVID-19 hospital, identifying a healthcare facility. Glass doors, black-framed windows, white columns, potted palms, tiled steps, and prominent green and white signage define entrance.
Psychiatric hospital as a COVID-19 isolation unit. Photo credit: Sugandh Gupta
Gupta, S. (2021, January 26). A shifting hospital and shifting dependencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Somatosphere.