Rachana Patni

Academic qualifications

• PhD Management Studies Research (Centre for Research on Emotion Work, Brunel Business School): "Emotional Fools and Dangerous Robots: postcolonial engagements with emotion management"
• MSc Social Psychology. London School of Economics, UK
  
• MA  Social Work. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India
• BA (Hons.) Psychology. Lady Shri Ram College, India

Admin responsibilities

Programme Director, BA Social Work

Member, Learning and Teaching Committee for Social Work

Teaching responsibilities

Rachana leads and delivers MA and BA modules that focus on the use of social theory for social work interventions: Critical Introduction to Social Work Theories (MA) and Theoretical Perspectives in Social Work (BA). These modules discuss the use of theory to develop critical thinking and reflexive skills for social work.

Research interests

Rachana Patni is a critical organizational scholar with professional qualifications in social work and social psychology. Rachana's research focusses on emotion management and professionalization of welfare delivery. She is a keen observer of shared concerns of welfare professionals in developed and developing countries. Rachana's doctoral research drew on narrative methods and postcolonial scholarship to highlight the ways in which embodiment affects the organizational experiences of disaster workers. She also explored how neoliberal ideas transform welfare encounters.

Other research interests include discursive and interpretive research on identity as well as engagements with intersectionality to grapple with questions of reflexive practice.

Research groups

Professional activities or recognition

Conferences

• Patni, R. (2009). Emotions in Organizations: A Postcolonial Gaze at Disaster Interventions, Critical Management Studies Conference, Warwick Business School.
• Patni, R. (2009). Diverse Identities and Emotional Labour: Responding to Sexuality, Race and Religion in the Classroom, 9th International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, Riga.
• Patni, R. (2008). Race in International Devleopment/Disaster Organizations: using an emotions perspective to foreground north-south inequities. IASSW conference, Durban.
• Patni, R. (2007). Struggles of a New Academic: the view from the bottom of a food chain. JUSWEC conference, Swansea.
• Patni, R. (2007). Underground Dance forms- the back stage, the green room and the unstaged performances of emotional labour in international development. EGOS conference, Vienna.
• Patni, R. (2007). From Babble to Babel- the positive transformation of multicultural service delivery. 7th International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, Amsterdam.
• Patni, R. and Lewis, P. (2007). Questions of Visibility, Power and Agency in Emotional Labour. Gender, Work and Organisation Conference, Keele.
• Patni, R & Aymer, C. (2006). Race, Religion and Sexuality: An (im) potent mix in the classroom, London South Bank University.

Publications