Manisha Desai

Professor Manisha Desai heads the Sociology Department at the University of Connecticut, with joint appointments in Asian and Asian American Studies. Her scholarship centers on transnational feminisms, gender and globalization, human rights advocacy, and contemporary Indian social movements.

Research examines subaltern movements challenging neoliberal development, feminist reorientations of democracy, and critical cartographies of transnational activism. Current ethnographic work explores intersections of women's rights with Dalit struggles and anti-communalism.

Publications analyze gendered dimensions of global justice movements and decolonial feminist praxis, with recent focus on Dalit theorist Savitribai Phule's intellectual legacy.

Awards:

• Feminist Mentor of the Year (2019)
• Distinguished Feminist Lecturer (2015)
• Faculty Diversity Mentor Award (2016)

Desai engages in UN human rights advocacy and global treaty initiatives addressing violence against women.