MUSEUM INFLUENCER 2026
Dr Kanika Singh is a historian whose work sits at the intersection of museums, heritage, and public history. She is the author of The Story of Sikh Museum: Heritage, Politics, Popular Culture, a pioneering study that examines how Sikh history is constructed through museum practice, with a focus on the Bhai Mati Das Museum in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
Her research engages closely with questions of memory, representation, and community narratives within institutional spaces. Moving beyond conventional museum analysis, she considers the role of institutional actors, community stakeholders, and the politics of display in shaping historical consciousness, unpacking how objects, dioramas, and narrative devices are mobilised to position museums as active sites of meaning-making rather than neutral repositories. Alongside her academic work, Singh is the founder of Delhi Heritage Walks, through which she has developed immersive public programmes that expand access to urban history.
Published in July 2025, her book has emerged as a significant contribution to museum studies in India, offering a critical lens on how religious and cultural histories are curated and communicated. As a faculty member at Ashoka University, she teaches courses on museums in South Asia, Delhi’s heritage, visual culture, and research writing.
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Originally published in Museum Mosaic 2025, published May 2026.
Part of our annual review. Descriptions reflect the publication’s reporting period.
