Arani is a Sociologist with research interest in media-society interface, transnational migration and religion-politics mutuality in India. As a Hanns-Siedel Fellow he received his PhD from the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University. Arani also has a diploma in media studies jointly from South Asian Media School, Lahore and Goldsmiths, University of London.

Arani’s doctoral thesis was on the role of media in India, where he largely worked on and with the theories of Noam Chomsky and Jurgen Habermas. After his doctoral studies Arani has been critiquing the initiative by the state and the market to bring indigenous people into the fold of ‘modernity’ based solely on economic and technological development criteria, which overlooks the cultural particularism. 

Arani is teaching several courses including Political Economy of Development, Media and Public Sphere, Exploring Social and the Historical. He is also working on his first book. 

Arani’s research interests include Media, Migration and Religion-Politics Interface in India. Presently Arani is researching on the Indian diaspora and construction of “home” through digital spaces in Germany. 

“Understanding Media-Politics-Society-Economy Interrelationship: Relevance of Habermas and Chomksy in India”, Transcience: A Journal of Global Studies (ISSN No. 2191-1150), Berlin, Germany   

“Dissemination of News in India through Mediated Buzzwords”, Journal of Media Critique, Vol. 2, Issue 7, 2016 (ISSN No. 2056-9793), Lincolnshire, United Kingdom  

“Hindistan’dan tanıdık bir hikâye”, Birikim Dergisi, Issue 330, Vol. 10, 2016, (ISSN No. 1300-8358), Istanbul, Turkey

“Saffronization of a ‘Land’: Has Hindu Politics in India Co-opted ‘Hinduism’?” (Accepted for publication for May, 2021Issue) in International Journal of Humanistic Ideology (ISSN No. 2285-4517), Cluj-Napoca, Romania   

“Making News in Global India: Media, Publics, Politics (by Sahana Udupa)” in Society and Culture in South Asia, Sage Journals (DOI: 10.1177/2393861718787899), New Delhi, India

“Free Speech and Media Freedom: Addressing the Impossible in Corporate India (by Sukumar Muralidharan)” in Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai, India

“Ranabir Samaddar: Contributions to Social Theorizing in India; Social Theorizing in Contemporary India: Critique, Creativity, Transformations and Planetary Realizations,” Routledge, New Delhi, India

 “Political Bias of the Media in Bengal: A Sociological Perspective”, in Mainstream Weekly, Vol. LI. No. 13, March, 16, 2013 Issue (ISSN NO. 0542-1462), New Delhi, India

“History of Media in Bengal: A Chronological Overview”, in international peer reviewed journal Transcience: A Journal of Global Studies, Vol. 4, issue No. 1, 2013 (ISSN NO. 2191-1150), Berlin, Germany   

“Merkel Short of Absolute Majority Reaches out to Leftist Rivals”, Mainstream Weekly, Vol. LI. NO. 43, October, 12, 2013 Issue (ISSN NO. 0542-1462), New Delhi, India

• Sociology of development
• Media and Public Sphere
• Identity and Society