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]

Manali Desai
TitleReader 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

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. Cotton, Joe (2020-09-21). "New Head of Department - Dr Manali Desai". www.sociology.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  2. "Manali Desai first Indian-origin woman to head a Cambridge dept". Hindustan Times. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  3. Munnelly, Ellen (2020-02-25). "Our Team". www.thegendvproject.sociology.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  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". www.newn.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  6. jw474@cam.ac.uk. "Dr Manali Desai — CAMMIGRES". www.cammigres.group.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  7. "Staff News". www2.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  8. Munnelly, Ellen (2020-03-11). "What is The GendV Project?". www.thegendvproject.sociology.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  9. "Dr Manali Desai becomes the only woman of colour to currently head a Cambridge department". Varsity Online. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  10. Dr Manali Desai – Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08.
  11. ""She is truly a teacher who makes education count." Dr Manali Desai awarded 2019 Pilkington Teaching Prize – Newnham College". www.newn.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  12. "Top Cambridge prize for 2 Indian-origin academics". Hindustan Times. 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  13. Hall, Rachel; Batty, David; Nwonka, Clive (2020-06-17). "'Students want to confront it': academics on how to decolonise the university". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
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