Inderpal Grewal papers (Ms.2018.016)

Biographical/Historical note

Inderpal Grewal is currently a professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as American Studies at Yale University. She also teaches in the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Studies Program and the South Asian Studies Council. She is known for her prolific work on transnational feminism, cultural theory, feminist theory, and her extensive research of post-colonialism, South Asian cultural studies, mobility and modernity, nongovernmental organizations, human rights, and law and citizenship.

After graduating as valedictorian from St. Agnes' School in West Bengal, India, Grewal went on to pursue an MA from Punjab University and a Ph.D in English at the University of California at Berkeley. Afterwards, Grewal taught at the University of California at Irvine as well as at San Francisco State University. In 1994, together with Caren Kaplan, Grewal published her first book, Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices, which was followed by her next book Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and the Culture of Travel (1996). Again in 2001, Grewal collaborated with Kaplan to write An Introduction to Women's Studies: Gender in a Transnational World. Later in 2005, Grewal authored Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms. Her latest book, Saving the Security State: Exceptional Citizens in Twenty-First century America (2017) discusses the impact of neoliberalism on American society, and the relationship between citizens and state. In addition to her book publications, Grewal has also authored several articles, co-edited Theorizing NGO's: States, Feminism and Neoliberalism with Victoria Bernal, and lectured all over the world. At Yale, Grewal teaches courses such as "Gender in Everyday Life," "Feminist Theory," "Feminist and Queer Theory," "Gender in a Transnational World," "Feminist Postcolonial Theories: Subjects and Knowledges," and "Sex, Gender, and the Modern Body." Her continuing research involves subjects such as postcolonial India, gender, violence, as well as a book focusing on masculinity in India. In 2018, Grewal also agreed to serve on the Pembroke Center's Feminist Theory Archive Advisory Board at Brown University.