Debotri Dhar

Dr. Debotri Dhar’s research and teaching interests lie in feminist theory; South Asian Studies; India; gender, race, representation; transnational feminisms; gender violence and the state; women’s writing, with a focus on fiction; Post-colonialism; culture and rights; love; women and religion; gender and education; and interdisciplinary methods. She holds a Bachelor’s degree (Honors) from the University of Delhi, a Master’s in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. Her awards and honors include an Excellence Fellowship, a Women’s Studies teaching award, a South Asian Studies research award, an Institute for Research on Women Graduate Fellowship, a CEW visiting scholarship, and a Distinction in Women’s Studies at Oxford. Dr. Dhar has edited and introduced volumes such as Education and Gender (London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014), and published book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals. Debotri also writes novels, short stories, essays, and newspaper columns. Her novel The Courtesans of Karim Street (2015) was widely acclaimed, and a collection of essays in forthcoming in 2018. She is currently working on two new book projects: a monograph on gender violence and the state, and a book of stories on women and travel. Dr. Dhar has delivered conference papers, presentations and talks at universities such as Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Boston, Michigan, Delhi, Oxford, Rutgers, Wooster, Bonn and elsewhere, while also speaking in non-university settings accessible to a wider public. She is the founder of the Hummingbird Global Writers’ Circle, a transnational “travelling” initiative to foster a love of books and ideas, cultural exchange, and global understanding. Her other interests include classical music, cinema, painting, and the culinary arts.