Darshana Sreedhar Mini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she teaches and conducts research at the intersection of feminist media, gender & sexuality studies, transnational media, migrant media, and South Asian screen cultures. She is also the Director for Media and Gender Justice at the 4W Initiative and holds affiliations with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Center for Visual Cultures, Center for South Asia, and the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice. Ph.D., Division of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California M.Phil., Center for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), India Dr. Mini’s research centers on Global Media Cultures, Transnational Cinemas and Migration, South Asian Cinema, and Feminist Media. Her work critically examines soft-porn cinema in India, media publics, censorship, labor in the entertainment sector, and migrant media practices. Her first book, Rated A: Soft-Porn Cinema and Mediations of Desire in India (UC Press, 2024), is a groundbreaking study that combines archival and ethnographic methods to explore the social and cultural impact of Malayalam soft-porn from the 1970s to the 2000s. Her second book project, Telegeographies of Indian Migration , investigates media flows between South Asia and Southeast Asia, focusing on colonial-era labor migration and its lasting effects on identity and community formation. Her recent publications span a diverse range of topics including South Asian pornographies, digital intimacy, anti-caste activism, #MeToo and intersectional feminism, transnational empathy in cinema, and media infrastructures. These works reflect a strong trend toward interdisciplinary, feminist, and decolonial scholarship that challenges dominant canons in film and media studies. Edward Cameron Dimock, Jr. Prize in the Indian Humanities, AIIS, 2024 Early Career Award, NCA, 2024 Race, Ethnicity and Indigeneity Fellow, IRH, UW-Madison, 2024 Byerly Award for Feminist Political Economy, ICA, 2023 First Book Award, The Center for Humanities, UW-Madison, 2022 SCMS Student Writing Award, 2017 Dr. Mini has been actively involved in academic service and leadership, including directing the Media and Gender Justice initiative, co-organizing seminars on migrant media, and contributing to feminist and anti-caste scholarship. Her research has been supported by prestigious grants from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also leads a significant grant-funded project as Principal Investigator for the 'South Asian Film and Media Collection' at UW-Madison. She is a key member of several collaborative research environments, including the Center for Visual Cultures and Performance Studies (CVCPS), the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research (WCFTR), and the 4W Initiative, where she directs programming on media and gender justice. These affiliations reflect her commitment to interdisciplinary, socially engaged scholarship and the creation of inclusive academic communities.
