My scholarship explores how inequality is reproduced, especially within marginalized groups. I am broadly interested in understanding how social change shapes contemporary gendered identities and practices; my regional focus is India. I am trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. I have been awarded several external and internal grants in recognition of my scholarship, including a Junior Research Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. My single-author work has been published in the journals Gender & Society, The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Contemporary South Asia, Development in Practice (forthcoming), and Teaching Sociology. My research agenda focuses on Asia, and my current research is focused on South Asia.

My book project, “New” Women: Trans Women Remaking Inequality in India, explores the tensions that arise as a marginalized group—in this case, transgender women in India—becomes more accepted in society. On the surface, increased acceptance seems positive for trans women, but a deeper look reveals how this social change simultaneously marginalizes other gender non-conforming people. As newer identities emerge, circulate and gain traction globally, it is important to understand how they can be connected to older inequalities, a key way that inequality is reproduced.

In many countries, people identify as either cisgender or a variation of newer non-cis identities like transgender, nonbinary, etc.  India is unique due to the existence of recognized (yet stigmatized) groups of male-assigned gender non-conforming hijras, who leave their birth families to live and work with others “like them.” “New” Women explores how recent social changes that allow gender non-conforming people to access essential resources have reshaped traditional hijra communities.  These changes disempower hijras who depend on these communities for survival. These changes also enable younger people who may have formerly joined the hijras to align themselves with middle-class (cisgender) womanhood as they claim transgender identities. In their quest for respect, trans women differentiate themselves from hijras in ways that reinforce the stigma and inequalities suffered by hijras. For trans women, claiming trans identities is partly about the (middle-)class aspirations they express through gendered identity claims. I thus argue that trans women’s identity work is part of a symbolic class project. At its heart, “New” Women is a book about the effects of social change and the reproduction of inequalities among marginalized groups. 

In preparation to conduct the research for this book, I lived in India to study Hindi and Kannada in immersion language programs.  Between the time I spent learning languages and my research period, I have lived in India for over three years.  In addition to the time I have spent in South Asia, I also lived and taught in Central Asia (Kazakhstan) for two and a half years.  This book is based on 18 months of ethnographic research (including over 75 interviews) conducted in Bangalore, India. To conduct a serious, sustained ethnography, I studied Hindi and Kannada languages. In total, I lived in India for over three years. This research was supported by The American Institute for Indian Studies.

My future research project, “Gender and Marginalization:  Competing Oppressions and Transgender Reservations in India” focuses on activists’ demands for constitutional protections similar to affirmative action policies known as “reservations” for transgender people.  I plan to employ qualitative methods to explore the interaction of postcolonial discourses of reservations as a means to develop India and recent global development discourses that re-shape this discourse using the language of human rights to uncover how social justice advocates understand the relationship between the state and inequality in India today.