Interview | Meena Kandasamy on her new novel, ‘Fieldwork As a Sex Object’
Author Meena Kandasamy discusses her new novel, 'Fieldwork As a Sex Object,' which explores themes of misogyny, caste, and the Indian manosphere. The book follows a Marxist student who becomes the target of online abuse after a deepfake video of her goes viral.
Why it matters
The novel provides a critical look at how digital harassment and political extremism intersect with caste dynamics in modern India.
Poet and writer Meena Kandasamy centres her new novel, Fieldwork As a Sex Object (HarperCollins), around a London-based upper-caste Marxist student from India, who wakes up one morning to find that she is the subject of a deepfake video. Amrita Chaturvedi (Amy, in her London circles) is unapologetically sexually active, but the woman in the video is not her. Overnight, she becomes a trending hashtag and the target of relentless, vile online abuse.
The subject matter and the author's focus on systemic social issues like caste and misogyny align with progressive discourse.
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