Elora Halim Chowdhury is Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Director of the Human Rights Program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where she is also affiliated with the Asian Studies Department, the Cinema Studies Program and the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights. She received her Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from Clark University, Massachusetts. Her teaching and research interests include transnational feminisms, critical development studies, gender violence and human rights advocacy, narrative and film with an emphasis on South Asia. Her book Transnationalism Reversed: Women Organizing Against Gendered Violence in Bangladesh (SUNY Press, 2011) was awarded the National Women’s Studies Association Gloria Anzaldua book prize in 2012. She is the co-editor of South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters (University of Washington Press, 2020 with Esha Niyogi De), Interdisciplinary Approaches to Human Rights: History, Politics, Practice (Routledge, 2019 with Rajini Srikanth), and Dissident Friendships: Feminism, Imperialism and Transnational Solidarity (University of Illinois Press, 2016 with Liz Philipose). Her work has appeared in numerous leading journals in her field including Meridians: Feminism, Race & Transnationalism; Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society; Feminist Studies; Hypatia: Journal of Feminist Philosophy; and Gender, Place & Culture. Her current book project is tentatively titled, Disruptive Archive: Women, War and Muktijuddho Cinema. She serves as the Series Editor to the Dissident Feminisms book series at the University of Illinois Press and on the Editorial Boards of the journals Feminist Formations; Studies in South Asian Film and Media; and Journal of Feminist Scholarship. Dr. Chowdhury has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Syracuse University and the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. Prior to joining UMass, Dr. Chowdhury worked for a range of philanthropic, development, and policy institutions including BRAC, UNICEF, and the Ford Foundation.

Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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