Assistant Professor

Dr. Roopa Rathnam has more than two decades of experience in teaching, research and practice; having undertaken myriad yet interconnected journeys in her academic and professional career. She holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and a postgraduate degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has been awarded her M. Phil. and Ph.D. in sociology by the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Located at the intersections of the study of social movements, postcolonial feminism(s) and ahistorical sociology, her doctoral work inquires into social movements - with particular focus on the women’s movements in Maharashtra - and the nature of their engagement with religious practitioners within movement spaces. Making the life and work of Pandita Ramabai, a social reformer in late nineteenth-early twentieth century Maharashtra, as a point of entry into the field, her research explores the reasons why religious feminists remain problematic constituents for the women’s movements in India. Parts of her research have been published as WoS and UGC-CARE indexed journal articles, and she has presented her research in various conferences such as the international conference Remapping the Feminist Global co-convened by the International Feminist Journal of Politics and the Asian Center for Women’s Studies at Ewha Women’s University, South Korea; at the Second Annual International Conference of the Indian Network of Memory Studies in association with the Centre for Memory Studies at IIT Madras; at the Southern Regional Conference of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies. Prior to her return to academia, Dr. Roopa’s work with multilateral, bilateral and international non-governmental organisations like UN Women, the Department for International Development, Government of UK and Oxfam Great Britain on issues of gender equality and justice has offered her exposure to a wide range of actors, and has instilled in her deep and abiding respect for the struggles of oppressed communities across India.

Department of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (DLHS) Bengaluru

Qualification: MA, M.Phil, PhD etc.