Education

• PhD Candidate, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (Ongoing).
• MPhil, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.
• M.A. in Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS),
• M.A. in South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
• B.A. Political Science, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Profile

Ammel Sharon is a historian whose research focuses on histories of higher education, academic disciplines, pedagogy, languages, and archival practice. At the National Law School, she is involved with The Writing Centre, which supports students in developing university-level reading and writing practices, and offers one-on-one consultations. She is also building the NLS Law and Society Archives, a multimedia repository dedicated to preserving and making accessible records of the legal profession, legal education, and social initiatives that have shaped the legal landscape in independent India.

From 2022 to 2024, Ammel led the Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism (QAMRA) Archival Project at NLSIU. Some of her collaborative work is available on understory.in.

Publications

Books

• Ammel Sharon, K. Anupama, Hélène Guétat-Bernard, S. Prasad, J. Lazar, Amuthavalluvan V., A. Indhu, S. Narpavi, J. Andrieu, F. Landy, and N. Gallai. Native Bees and Pollination in the Puducherry Bioregion. Science & Society no. 1. Puducherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2022. Open-access: in English and Tamil
• Co-author with RVS Sundaram, The Duel of the Maces: A translation of Ranna’s 10th century poem, Gadāyuddham with introduction and notes. Manohar, 2018 and Routledge, 2020.
• Co-author with RVS Sundaram, The Ocean of Prosody: A translation of Nagavarama’s Chandōmbudhi with introduction and notes. Central University of Karnataka, 2021.

Articles

• “Subspace”. Illustrated by Sharanya Ravi. Queer India Now, edited by Dhrubo Jyoti and Dhamini Ratnam, Westland Books/Queer Directions, 2026.
• They, the People, Socio-Legal Review 21, no. 2, 2025.
• Kumar Akhilesh et al. Flakes, Feelings, and Finesse: Experiential Studies of Skill- Acquisition in Novice Knappers. PaleoAnthropology No. 1, 2025: 116-153.
• Diya Deviah and Ammel Sharon, “Continuity without Cultivation”?: The Student Figure, Legal Education, and Writing Pedagogy in India, Socio-Legal Review 20(1), 2024.
• Mirror and the Lamp (Book Review of Gita Ramaswamy, Land, Guns, Caste, Woman. Navayana, 2022), Economic and Political Weekly, Vol LVIII No 43, 2023.
• Historical Errors: Debates in Kannada Text Criticism, The MISR Review 5, 2022.

Media

• AI’s real danger is not the the future. It is what we cannot control. The Indian Express, 15 September 2026.
• Popularity of ‘Heated Rivalry’ Shows Fantasy Isn’t Escape — It Exposes Reality’s Confusions. The Indian Express, 20 April 2026.
• J.K. Rowling-Emma Watson row reveals tension between lived truth and fiction’s sweep, Indian Express, 7 October 2025.
• More than Storage: Making Archives Matter to People, International Council on Archives (ICA), May 2025
• What the UK Can Learn from India about Trans Rights and Inclusive Feminism, Indian Express, 25 April 2025
• We Are All Data for AI. We Must Learn to Coexist’, The Indian Express, 1 April 2025
• A Litany for Blessed Diversity, Flash: The ICA Magazine, 6 March, 2025
• Jis Kisi ke Mann Mein Asuraksha ka Bhav Hai, Woh Mahila Hai, Rajasthan Patrika, 25 January 2025.
• The President is Female, Indian Express, 23 January 2025
• Abstinence, Yaari: An Anthology on Friendship by Women and Queer Folx, edited by Shilpa Phadke and Nithila Kanagasabai. Yoda Press, 2023.
• Just Stamps, Understory, 2023.
• In-depth interviews with V. Geetha (Tara Books) on the Anthropological Gaze, Sujatha Noronha (Bookworm Trust) on Childrens’ Libraries, Ritu Menon (Women Unlimited) on Testimony.

Multimedia

• Video: The Legacy of Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi, NLS Law and Society Archives, 2025.
• Exhibition: Maps of Memory: The Uma Chakravarti Collection, co-curated with Diya Deviah, Bangalore International Centre, March 29 – April 6, 2025. NLS Law and Society Archives. Four teaching resources: Archiving Feminist Histories | Feminist Friendships Across Borders | Fact-finding and Democratic Participation | Counter-publics and the Classroom
• Installation: Cornelia Sorabji and the Centenary of the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act 1923, NLSIU Library.
• Animated video: An Archival Imagination at the Star of Mysore Newspaper. IFA Project.
• The Writerly Self in Early Modern Western India: An Interview with Dr. Prachi Deshpande, 2018.
• Making Vachana Sahitya: An Interview with Dr. Vijayakumar M. Boratti, 2018.
• On Aesthetic Experience in Sanskrit Literature: An Interview with Vidwan H.V. Nagaraja Rao, 2017. (Link)
• Reading Spaces in Mumbai (Short film). PUKAR Youth Fellowship, 2007. (Link)