Preprint / Working Paper
Attention is All You Want: Machinic Gaze and the Anthropocene
Magee L & Arora V (2024) Attention is All You Want: Machinic Gaze and the Anthropocene. arXiv:2405.09734. arxiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.09734
Contact details
About me
I teach undergraduate and post-graduate courses in heritage at University of Stirling. My doctoral work at Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University examines post-disaster reconstruction of built heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. I have over a decade of professional experience in India, where I specialised in areas of planning and policy for disaster risk reduction of heritage sites, conservation and adaptive re-use of built heritage, and urban regeneration. I am currently exploring temporalities of disasters, longer trajectories of recovery and the role of climate change in producing specific kinds of heritage and memory.
heritage, disasters, South Asia, urban regeneration, globalisation, post-colonial theory, climate change, visual analysis, generative AI
Award
BNAC PhD Dissertation Prize 2023
https://www.bnac.ac.uk/…tion-prize-2023/
Event / Presentation
Automated Research Practices: AI and/as the Qualitative Researcher
https://machineagencies.milieux.ca/unstable-diffusions/
Co-presented paper along with Assoc. Prof. Liam Magee (Western Sydney University) at '(un)Stable Diffusions', a two-day international symposium on AI’s publics, publicities, and publicizations at Milieux Institute, Tiohtià:ke/Montréal (23-24 May, 2023)
Co-Chair (Resilience), ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium, 2023
https://icomosga2023.org/scientific-symposium-chairs/
Co-chair for the Resilience Theme for the ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium on 'Heritage Changes'
Decoding the National Disaster Management Guidelines in India
Webinar on Cultural Heritage Disaster Risk Reduction of Historic Districts in India
https://nidm.gov.in/…3March2023sk.pdf
The webinar was aimed to train the participants and validate a large-scale methodology for risk assessment and management in cultural heritage sites, taking into account their specific tangible or intangible values. It hosted professionals from the field looking at disaster risk
reduction in different types of heritage centers. The objective of the webinar was to facilitate a cross-learning and awareness amongst professionals and students of Heritage -related disciplines about Disaster Risk Reduction in Heritage cities and relevant approaches and strategies to manage and mitigate risks for the present and future.
Workshop on Reimagining the Archive
JISC
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/dcdc-conference
Co-organised with Associate Prof. Liam Magee (Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University)
Through this interactive workshop, participants were invited to collaboratively interrogate the visual archives upon which popular text-to-image models are based. Discussions on the nature of archives, imagery of heritage, relationships between text and image were discussed.
Other Academic Activities
Pre-editor Assistant for Landscape Research
Professional membership
Association of Critical Heritage Studies
British Nepal Academic Council
Outputs (18)
Article
(Re)framing built heritage through the machinic gaze
Arora V, Magee L & Munn L (2024) (Re)framing built heritage through the machinic gaze. Journal of Social Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1177/14696053241237949
Article
Structured like a language model: Analysing AI as an automated subject
Magee L, Arora V & Munn L (2023) Structured like a language model: Analysing AI as an automated subject. Big Data and Society, 10 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231210273
Preprint / Working Paper
Reframing Heritage through the Machinic Gaze
Arora V, Magee L & Munn L (2023) Reframing Heritage through the Machinic Gaze. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.04628
Book Chapter
The Politics of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Heritage
Arora V (2023) The Politics of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Heritage [Reconstruction as recovery:The politics behind why heritage is funded internationally, nationally, and locally]. In: Jigyasu R & Chmutina K (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Cultural Heritage and Disaster Risk Management. 1 ed. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Article
Truth machines: synthesizing veracity in AI language models
Munn L, Magee L & Arora V (2023) Truth machines: synthesizing veracity in AI language models. AI & SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01756-4
Article
Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction
Arora V (2023) Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction. Change Over Time.
Article
Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction
Arora V & Murthy M (2023) Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction. Change Over Time, 12 (1), pp. 34-51. https://doi.org/10.1353/cot.2023.a927228
Preprint / Working Paper
Truth Machines: Synthesizing Veracity in AI Language Models
Munn L, Magee L & Arora V (2023) Truth Machines: Synthesizing Veracity in AI Language Models. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.12066
Book Chapter
Reconstructing Memory and Desire in Bhaktapur, Nepal
Arora V (2022) Reconstructing Memory and Desire in Bhaktapur, Nepal. In: "Invisible Cities" and the Urban Imagination. Literary Urban Studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13048-9_16
Preprint / Working Paper
Structured Like a Language Model: Analysing AI as an Automated Subject
Magee L, Arora V & Munn L (2022) Structured Like a Language Model: Analysing AI as an Automated Subject. arXivLabs. https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05058v1
Article
Arora V (2022) Reconstruction of heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal: examining tensions and negotiations between the "local" and the "global". Disaster Prevention and Managemen, 31 (1), pp. 41-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-03-2021-0093
Project Report
Mellick Lopes A, Arora V, Healy S, Power E, Armstrong H, Crabtree L, Gibson K & Tonkinwise C (2020) Cooling common spaces in densifying urban environments: A review of best practice and guide for Western Sydney renewal. Landcom. Sydney, Australia. https://apo.org.au/node/311804
Website Content
(Re)constructing heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal
Arora V (2020) (Re)constructing heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Issues [Online] 27.07.2020. https://issues-journal.org/2020/07/27/reconstructing-heritage-in-bhaktapur-nepal/
Newspaper / Magazine
Five years on from the earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal, heritage-led recovery is uniting community
Arora V (2020) Five years on from the earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal, heritage-led recovery is uniting community. The Conversation. 24.04.2020.
Edited Book
Gandhi Bhawan: Documenting and Conserving Modern Heritage of India
(2019) Gandhi Bhawan: Documenting and Conserving Modern Heritage of India. India: Mapin Publishing Ltd. https://www.mapinpub.com/products/gandhi-bhawan?variant=43296154747094
Conference Paper (published)
Arora V & Murthy M (2016) Re‐discovering Uttarkhand’s Cultural Identity: Issues for consideration during post‐disaster reconstruction. In: Johnson C & Conference Scientific Committee (eds.) Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts. Conference Proceedings. 2015 international i-Rec conference Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts, London, 06.07.2015-08.07.2015. L’Observatoire universitaire de la vulnérabilité and la reconstruction durable (Œuvre Durable), funded by Fonds de recherche du Québec, Société et culture (FQRSC), Canada. http://www.grif.umontreal.ca/i-rec/i-Rec2015/conferenceIREC2015papers.htm
Authored Book
Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage in Urban Areas: A Training Guide
Arora V & Jigyasu R (2013) Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage in Urban Areas: A Training Guide. Kyoto: Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University (RitsDMUCH), Kyoto, Japan.
Teaching
I design, coordinate, and teach across the MSc in Heritage (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/pg-taught/heritage/#panel_1_1) programme, including Heritage: critical perspectives (HERPP01), and recently introduced module: Heritage, Risk and Resilience: Managing Change in the Anthropocene (HERPP08 ). I also deliver guest sessions for Heritage, Identity and Place (HERPP04).
I am currently working on our soon to be released Heritage Placement (HERPP11) which will be on offer in 2024-25.
I also teach across the taught undergraduate programmes: History and Heritage (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/ug/history-heritage/) and Heritage and Tourism (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/ug/heritage-tourism/), including guest sessions for Interpretation and Exhibition Design (ARTUHR5), Heritage Portfolio (HISUHX7) and the recently designed module on Heritage, Colonialism, and Globalisation: Discourses, Institutions, and Practices (ARTUHE6).
I supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in heritage.