Prof Shiv Issar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Plaksha University. Before joining Plaksha, he held Assistant Professor roles at Krea University and Nazareth University in Rochester, New York. In his teaching, he treats technologies as lived infrastructures that students can interrogate and reimagine through theory, media analysis, and ethnographic exercises.
- Harold A. Innis Award for Outstanding Thesis or Dissertation, Media Ecology Association, 2025
- Distinction in Teaching Award, Nazareth University, 2025
Prof Issar’s scholarship has appeared in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Sociology Compass, the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, the American Sociological Association’s TRAILS Library, Teaching Sociology, and Science, Technology & Society. His doctoral dissertation, Drone Society: An Abductive Analysis of Civilian Drone Culture, received the Harold A. Innis Award. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DmQVvb0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Prof Issar studies drones, platforms, and artificial intelligence as they enter spaces where people learn, labor, and govern. His research examines how these systems reshape everyday life, communication, and public power, using ethnographic, digital, and archival approaches across Global North and South contexts.
Areas of work:
- Science and Technology Studies
- Cultural and new media studies
- Gender, race, labor, transnationalism, and environment
- Environmental and economic sociology
- Qualitative research methods