Curriculum Vitae
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Drew University, 2006-present.
Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California,
Berkeley, Fall 2009 (Sabbatical from Drew).
Assistant Professor in Political Science in Delhi University (Kirori Mal College), July
1997 – July 2005 (On Study Leave for Ph.D.: 2000-2005).
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Political Science, University of Southern California, 2006.
Dissertation Title: Legal Discourses on Torture in Contemporary Liberal Democracies: the United States and India.
MA, Political Science, University of Southern California, 2002.
M Phil, Political Science, Delhi University, Delhi, India, 1996.
Thesis on "Women and Work: The Domestic Labor Debate."
MA, Political Science, Delhi University, 1994.
Thesis on "Marxist Approach to the Woman Question: Some Early Debates."
BA, Political Science, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, 1992.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Transnational Torture: Law, Violence, and State Power in the United States and India.
New York: New York University Press, 2011.
With Nivedita Menon and Sadhna Arya, eds. Feminist Politics: Struggles and Issues.
Delhi: Hindi Medium Directorate, 2001, a book in Hindi for teaching an undergraduate
course on Women and Political Process, Second Edition.
Articles (Peer Reviewed)
"A Rose by another Name: Definitions, Sanitized Terms and Imagery of Torture in 24."
Law, Culture and Humanities, 6 (2010) 2, 1-29.
"Torture Debates in the post-9/11 United States: Law, Violence and Governmentality."
Theory and Event, 13 (2010)1.
"Revenge and the Spectacular Execution: The Timothy McVeigh Case." in Studies in
Law, Politics and Society 33, edited by Austin Sarat & Patricia Ewick, Oxford: Elsevier
Ltd, 2004: 201-221.
Book Chapters and Other Articles
"Indian State's Violence: Techniques in a Regime of Terror." Canada Watch
(Forthcoming).
"The Legacies of Nuremberg in International Law and American Policy." in A
Companion to Harry S. Truman, Edited by Daniel S. Margolies. Blackwell
(Forthcoming).
"Torture in Postcolonial India: Struggle within the Jurisprudence." Rights, Citizenship &
Torture: Perspectives on Evil, Law and the State, Welat Zeydanlıoğlu and John T. Parry
(eds), Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2009.
"Hundred Fifty Years of Communist Manifesto: Alexandra Kollontai and Marxist
Feminism." Economic and Political Weekly 36.17 (2001): 1413-1424.
"Liberalization and Its Impact on Women." in Feminist Politics: Struggles and Issues,
edited by Jinee Lokaneeta, Nivedita Menon and Sadhna Arya. Delhi: Hindi Medium
Directorate, 2001: 222-234.
Works in Progress:
"Terror within an Art of Government: Lie Detectors, Narco Analysis and Brain Scanning
in India" Revise and Resubmit from Law and Society Review.
Ongoing Book Project on Tracing the New Arts of Government: "Scientific Truth
Telling" in Liberal Security States.
"Countering the State Narratives on Torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay:
Gender, Culture, and, Religion in Imperial Encounters." in Undoing Leviathan:
Multidisciplinary Readings of the State, Roopali Mukherjee and Priya Jaikumar, editors.
Book Reviews & Other Publications
Book Review of Understanding Torture: Law, Violence, and Political Identity. By John
T. Parry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010, Law and Politics Book Review
21. 4 (2011): 198-203.
Encyclopedia Entry on "Torture" for Multi Volume Encyclopedia of Global Religion,
Edited by Mark Juergensmeyer, and Wade Clark Roof. Sage Publications (Forthcoming).
Encyclopedia Entry on "Torture and the Constitution." in Encyclopedia of the United
States Constitution, Edited by David Schultz. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009.
Book Review of Specters of Mother India: The Global Restructuring of an Empire. By
Mrinalini Sinha. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2006. & The Making of
Neo liberal India: Nationalism, Gender, and the Paradoxes of Globalization. By Rupal
Oza. New York, London: Routledge, 2006. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society 33(4) 2008: 1000-1003.
Book Review of Justice, Gender and the Politics of Multiculturalism. By Sarah Song.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Law and Politics Book Review 18 (2008):91-94.
Book Review of Retrieving Experience: Subjectivity and Recognition in Feminist
Politics. By Sonia Kruks. New Political Science 26.1 (2004): 125-129.
Book Review of De-eroticizing Assault: Essays on Modesty, Honor and Power. By
Kalpana Kannabiran and Vasanth Kannabiran. Book Review 26.10 (2002): 32-33.
With Pratiksha Baxi. '"Numa," Malati Debi Choudhury: Some Memories.' Mainstream,
April 11, 1998.
ACADEMIC HONOURS AND GRANTS
Selected as Participant for the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on "The Rule of Law: Legal Studies and the Liberal Arts," June 15 - July 17, 2009,Biddeford, Maine.
Release Time Grant to work on book manuscript, Drew University, 2008-9.
Graduate fellow, 2006-7, American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS)
"in recognition of exceptional accomplishment in her field of study, exemplary concern
for improving social conditions and an extraordinary potential for becoming an
outstanding social scientist."
Final Year Dissertation Fellowship, USC, 2005-2006.
Graduate Fellow, Center for Law, History and Culture, USC, 2004-2005 and 2002-2003.
Graduate Merit Award, USC, 2000-2005. (Highest merit awards given by the College of
Letters, Arts and Sciences, USC to Incoming Graduate Students).
APSA Travel Grant to Chicago, APSA, 2004.
Unruh Institute of Politics Graduate Research Scholarship, USC, 2003.
J Watumull Award, Office of International Services, USC, 2000-2001.
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Doctoral Fellowship, 1996-1997.
Karan Singh Gold Medal & C.J.Chacko Prize (Highest Award given for graduating at the
top of the class in Masters in Political Science, Delhi University, India, 1994).
N.S. Pradhan Award (Highest Award for graduating at the top of the class in Masters in
Political Science, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, India, 1994).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Courses Taught at Drew
Political Theory: Enculturing Law: Gender, Rights, and Citizenship in India;
Torture: Pain, Body and Truth; and Introduction to Political Theory.
Public Law courses: Civil Liberties; Constitutional Law and Civil Rights;
Law, Politics and Society;
First Year Seminar on Guantánamo: Politics, History and Representation.
Previous Teaching Experience
Taught courses on Feminist Theory, Political Theory, and Nationalism & Colonialism in
Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, India.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND TALKS
Invited to speak on my book on a Panel on Global Implications of 9/11, Theresa Lang Center, New School, September 12, 2011.
"Rights in an Age of Science: Emerging Contours of the Liberal Security State." American Political Science Association Meeting, Seattle, September 2011.
'"Scientific Truths": Emerging Contours of the Liberal Security State.' Law and Society Association Meeting, San Francisco, CA, June 2011.
"Terror within an Art of Government: Lie Detectors, Narco Analysis, and Brain Scanning in India." Western Political Science Association Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, April 2011.
Organizer of Panel on Affective Leadership: Balagopal and the Reimagining of Judicial
Activism, Human Rights, and the State and Presented a paper on "Paradoxical State
Killings: Encounters and the Death Penalty," Second Law and Social Sciences Research
Network Conference titled Siting Law, Pune, India, December 2010.
Invited to talk and discuss my work on Torture, Legal Anthropology Class, Hunter
College, November 22, 2010.
"Being Civilized Keeps us at the Mercy of the Beast: Torture in Liberal
Democracies," Symposium on Legal Subjection: Conversations on Law, Power and
Govermentality, Law and Social Sciences Network, Delhi Chapter, India, July 2010.
"Post Colonial Governmentality: Body, Pain, and Truth (Serums) in India," Law and
Society Association Meeting, Chicago, May 2010.
Discussant and Panel Co-Organizer for Panel on The Rule of Law in Comparative and
Historical Perspective, Association for the Study of Law, Culture & the Humanities,
Providence, RI, March 2010.
Panelist, "Six Months of Obama Administration," Summer College for High School
Students from Newark, Drew University, August 3, 2009.
Panelist and Chair, Political Economy of Contemporary India, Left Forum, New York,
April 2009.
Panelist, "After Mumbai, Which Way Forward? A Public Dialogue." CUNY Graduate
Center, December 15, 2008.
Panelist, "Mumbai Attacks: A conversation on Peace and Unity in South Asia." Hunter
College, December 11, 2008.
Panelist, "Violence in Mumbai: Understanding the Religious and Political Significance of
the Recent Terrorist Attacks." Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict, Drew University,
December 4, 2008.
"Interrogations at Guantánamo Bay: Gender, Culture and Religion in Imperial
Encounters." American Political Science Meeting, Boston, September 2008.
Invited Talk on Torture at Farleigh Dickenson University. Advanced Criminal Justice
Class, April 7, 2008.
Invited Talk at a Panel on The Cycle of Torture. Center for Global Affairs, New York
University School of Continuing and Professional Studies, April 3, 2008.
'"Liberal" Torture: Race, Gender and Colonial Distinctions in Abu Ghraib (2004) and
Madras (1855).' Association for the Study of Law, Culture and Humanities, Berkeley,
March 2008.
"Torture in Postcolonial India: A Liberal Paradox?" 2nd Global Conference on Evil, Law
and the State: Issues in State Power and Violence, Salzburg, Austria, March 7-9, 2008.
"A Postcolonial Notion of Torture: Race, Gender, and Power in Abu Ghraib and
Madras Commission Report." Law and Society Association Meeting, Berlin, Germany,
July, 2007.
"A Rose by another Name: Definitions, Sanitized Terms and Imagery of Torture in
Liberal Democracies." Law and Society Association Meeting, Berlin, Germany, July
2007.
Panelist, Roundtable on "A rose by any other name: Torture as a Tactic in the War on
Terror," MidWestern Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, April 2007.
Revisiting the Debate on "The Politics of Recognition and the Politics of Redistribution:"
Reproductive Rights in India and the United States," Western Political Science
Association Meeting, Las Vegas, March 2007.
Discussant for Panel on Care and Justice, American Political Science Association
Meeting, Philadelphia, August 2006.
"Reconceptualizing State Power in the War on Terror: Torture as Governmentality or
Sovereignty?" American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, August 2006 &
Western Political Science Association Conference, Albuquerque, March 2006.
'"Being Helplessly Civilized Leaves Us at the Mercy of the beast," Post 9/11 Discourses
on Torture in the United States: A Tale of Exception and Continuity,' Emerging
Paradigms: Residual Issues, Women's Caucus for Political Science - APSA Pre-
Conference, Washington DC, August 2005.
"Legal Discourses on Torture in Contemporary Liberal Democracies: Case of the United
States," Law and Society Association Meeting, Las Vegas, June 2005 & Western
Political Science Association Meeting, Oakland, March 2005.
"Post 9/11 Discourses on Torture in United States: Abu Ghraib and the State of
Exception," Association for the Study of Law, Culture and Humanities Meeting, Austin,
Texas, March 2005.
"Rape as Torture: The Case of India," American Political Science Association Meeting,
Chicago, September 2004.
"Legality of Torture in Contemporary Democracies: Case of United States," Association
of Law, Culture and Humanities Meeting, Hartford, Connecticut, March 2004.
"Revenge and the Spectacular Execution: The McVeigh case," Guilt: A Conference on
Law and Humanities, University of New England, Portland, Maine, June 2003.
"Lumpen Proletariat and the Black Panther Party Experience," Western Political Science
Association Meeting, March 2002.
"Politics of Redistribution and Recognition," Thinking Gender conference, UCLA,
March 2001.
"Land Rights of Women," Seminar on Human Rights organized by Daulat Ram College
and Developing Countries Research Centre, Delhi University, India, December 1998.
"Women's Empowerment: Redefining the agenda," Centre for Political Studies, JawaharLal Nehru University, February 1998.
SERVICE AT DREW UNIVERSITY
Member Search Committee for Pre Professional Advisor, 2010.
Member, Working Group on Strategic Plan for Drew.
Member Advisory Committee for the Center for Religion, Culture, and Conflict.
Joint Affirmative Action – Equal Employment Opportunity Committee.
Pre Law Advisor, 2008-9.
Member, Search Committee for Founding Director of Civil Engagement Center, 2007-8.
Member, Civic Engagement Committee, 2006-7.
Member, EOS Committee, 2007-2010.
Member, Honors Committee, 2007-8 & 2010-11.
Editorial Board for Political Science and Law Student Journal.
Faculty Advisor, ACLU Chapter and Asia Society.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
Program Committee Member for the 2012 Meeting of the Association for the Study of
Law, Culture and Humanities (ASLCH).
Editorial Board, Human Rights & Human Welfare: An International Review of Books and
Other Publications.
Reviewer for Journals Cultural Studies; Human Rights & Human Welfare, and Studies in
Law, Politics, Society.
Panel Co-Organizer for 3 panels on the Rule of Law at the Association for the Study of
Law, Culture & the Humanities, Providence, RI, March 2010.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Law and Society Association
Association for the Study of Law, Culture and Humanities
Western Political Science Association
American Political Science Association
Law and Social Sciences Network (Lassnet)