Shalini Shankar

Shalini Shankar is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University with a joint appointment in Asian American Studies. Her research bridges sociocultural and linguistic anthropology, focusing on race & ethnicity, diaspora and migration, youth culture, media, advertising, and semiotics, particularly within South Asian and Asian diasporas in the United States.

• Ph.D., New York University (2003)
• Email: sshankar@northwestern.edu

Shankar's research examines how cultural practices intersect with immigration, neoliberalism, and media landscapes. Her work includes ethnographic studies of South Asian American youth in Silicon Valley, advertising agencies in major U.S. cities, and spelling bee participants, analyzing themes like the 'model minority' stereotype, racialized marketing, and competitive childhood.

Her funded projects include National Science Foundation grants (BCS-1323769 and BCS 0924472) and a Wenner-Gren Foundation Post-Ph.D. Research Grant, supporting her books Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal about the New American Childhood and Advertising Diversity: Ad Agencies and the Creation of Asian American Advertising.

• Public Voices/OpEd Project Fellow (2014)
• NSF Cultural Anthropology Research Grant (2013)
• Wenner-Gren Post-Ph.D. Grant (2013)
• NSF Cultural Anthropology Research Grant (2009)

Shankar's publications span journals like Journal of Linguistic Anthropology and American Anthropologist, alongside book chapters in anthologies such as Asian American Sporting Cultures. She is actively involved in professional organizations including the American Anthropological Association and Association for Asian American Studies.