Biography:Manali Desai

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Short description: Sociologist
Manali Desai
Manali Desai.jpg
OccupationReader in Sociology
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of California-Los Angeles
Academic work
DisciplineSociology
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
Websitehttps://research.sociology.cam.ac.uk/profile/dr-manali-desai

Manali Desai is a Reader in Sociology and a Fellow at Newnham College. She is currently the Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and is believed the first woman of color to lead a department at the University of Cambridge.[1]

Early life

Desai was brought up in India , the United States , and the United Kingdom .[1] She was born in the United States and later moved to India where she studied in Delhi.[2] She completed her last two years of school in London before attending university.[2]

Education and research

Desai studied Economics at the University of Michigan[2] and received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied comparative and historical sociology and completed a dissertation under the direction of Maurice Zeitlin and Robert Brenner.[3][4] Desai's research interests include post-colonial studies, social movements, state formation, political parties, development, and ethnic violence.[5] Previously, her work has been funded by the British Academy[6] and the Leverhulme Trust.[7] Desai's research is currently funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to investigate the urban transformation and gendered violence in Johannesburg and Delhi.[1][8]

In 2007, Desai wrote a book entitled State Formation and Radical Democracy in India, 1860-1990.[8] She has also co-edited two booked entitled States of Trauma: Gender and Violence in South Asia and Building Blocs: How Parties Organize Society in 2009 and 2015, respectively.[8]

Academic roles

Before coming to Cambridge, Desai taught at the London School of Economics.[1] She came to the University of Cambridge in 2013[9] and is currently a Reader in Sociology.[10] She is also a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.[11] In 2019, she was awarded the Pilkington Teaching Prize, in recognition of her commitment to and impact on teaching at the University of Cambridge.[11][12]

In 2020, Desai became the Head of Department of Sociology. She believed the first woman of color to lead a department at the University of Cambridge.[1][9][2]

Diversity and equality work

Desai has been featured in The Guardian for her work on inclusion, diversity and equality within academia.[13] She also helped establish a "Decolonise Sociology" working group in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.[9]

Desai has been accused by the organization Alumnii for Free Speech (www.affs.com) of discrimination against people with a protected characteristic contrary to the UK Equality Act 2010.AFFS Cambridge University Council Letter

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cotton, Joe (2020-09-21). "New Head of Department - Dr Manali Desai" (in en). https://www.sociology.cam.ac.uk/news/dr-manali-desai. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Manali Desai first Indian-origin woman to head a Cambridge dept" (in en). 2020-09-22. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/manali-desai-first-indian-origin-woman-to-head-a-cambridge-dept/story-qXBXkcjBQ99LzlHJKHtujN.html. 
  3. ↑ Munnelly, Ellen (2020-02-25). "Our Team" (in en). https://www.thegendvproject.sociology.cam.ac.uk/our-team. 
  4. ↑ Desai, Manali (1999). Nationalism, class conflict and socialist hegemony: Towards an explanation of 'developmental exceptionalism' in Kerala, India, 1934 to 1941 (PhD). University of California, Los Angeles. OCLC 44165590.
  5. ↑ "Dr Manali Desai – Newnham College". https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/person/dr-manali-desai/. 
  6. ↑ jw474@cam.ac.uk. "Dr Manali Desai — CAMMIGRES" (in en). https://www.cammigres.group.cam.ac.uk/directory/manalidesai. 
  7. ↑ "Staff News". https://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsletters/pressAndInformation/staffNews/2010/20101209.htm. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Munnelly, Ellen (2020-03-11). "What is The GendV Project?" (in en). https://www.thegendvproject.sociology.cam.ac.uk/what-gendv-project. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Dr Manali Desai becomes the only woman of colour to currently head a Cambridge department" (in en). https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/19851. 
  10. ↑ Dr Manali Desai – Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 ""She is truly a teacher who makes education count." Dr Manali Desai awarded 2019 Pilkington Teaching Prize – Newnham College". https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/newnham-news/she-is-truly-a-teacher-who-makes-education-count-dr-manali-desai-awarded-2019-pilkington-teaching-prize/#:~:text=Prize%20%E2%80%93%20Newnham%20College-,%E2%80%9CShe%20is%20truly%20a%20teacher%20who%20makes%20education%20count.%E2%80%9D,awarded%202019%20Pilkington%20Teaching%20Prize&text=Newnham%20College%20is%20proud%20to,of%20her%20excellence%20in%20teaching.. 
  12. ↑ "Top Cambridge prize for 2 Indian-origin academics" (in en). 2019-06-28. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/top-cambridge-prize-for-2-indian-origin-academics/story-ZUqlUQ4tvy0XQmrrWTX1eK.html. 
  13. ↑ Hall, Rachel; Batty, David; Nwonka, Clive (2020-06-17). "'Students want to confront it': academics on how to decolonise the university" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/17/students-want-to-confront-it-academics-on-how-to-decolonise-the-university. 




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