| 1974 | B.A. (with distinction), Psychology, University of Delhi |
| 1977 | M.A. (with distinction), Sociology/Social Anthropology, University of Delhi |
| 1980 | M. Phil. (with distinction), Sociology, University of Oxford |
| 1980-1981 | Lecturer, Sociology, University of Delhi |
| 1981-1982 | Lecturer, Sociology, University of Bombay |
| 1986-1993 | Lecturer (Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben), Social Anthropology and Modern Indian languages, Free University of Berlin |
| 1991-1992 | Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study), Berlin |
| 1992 | Ph.D. ("Politics of Exchange and Representation among the Dalits of Gujarat/western India"; summa cum laude), Social Anthropology, Free University of Berlin |
| 1993-1999 | Assistant Professor, Sociology, Free University of Berlin |
| 1999-2001 | Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study), Berlin |
| 2001-2002 | Max Weber Professor (Visiting Professorship), University of Munich |
| 2001-2003 | Member, Working Group on "Civil society: historical and comparative perspectives", WZB - Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung, Berlin |
| 2002 | Habilitation ("Local Refractions of global governance: legal plurality, international institutions, the post-colonial state and NGOs in India"), Sociology and Anthropology, Free University Berlin |
| 2002-2003 | Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, CEU - Central European University, Budapest |
| 2003-2012 | Professor, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zurich |
| 2006-2007 | Research Professor, WZB - Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung, Berlin |
| 2008 | Visiting Professor, EHESS - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris |
| 2010-2011 | Fellow, Lichtenbergkolleg (Institute of Advanced Study), University of Göttingen |
| since 2010 | Visiting Professor, WZB - Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung, Berlin |
| 2011 | Peter-Ustinov Professor (Visiting Professorship), University of Vienna |
| since 2012 | Professor, Department of Social Anthropology and Sociology, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva |
| 2014-2018 | Mercator Fellow (visiting professorship at the Free University, Berlin as part of the SFB 700 Governance in Spaces of Limited Statehood) |
| since 2015 | Research Director, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva |
| Rector, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna |
| since 2018 | Member of the Steering Committee, European Forum Alpbach |
