Dr. Soma Chaudhuri is a qualitative methodologist whose research lies at the intersection of gender, development, social movements and violence. She studies how violence at the community and household level is used to legitimize structural and institutional level gender inequalities that specifically disadvantage women. Relatedly she explores the role of non-state actors in creating effective strategies for encountering such violence through empowerment programs, the impact it has on the women’s lives, and reasons for failure of such programs.
Her other current projects explore: 1. The impact of pandemics on Indian migrants across occupational hierarchy (with Elizabeth Chacko, Bandana Purkayastha et al.); 2. The interplay of risks and motivations undertaken by ordinary people that drive their decision to participate in social justice protests during a public health crisis (with Jennifer Cobbina-Dungy et al.); 3. A queer decolonial feminist perspective on the study of witches, witchcraft and witch hunts (with Jane Ward)
Her research has been funded by several grants including from the National Science Foundation and Social Science Research Council Award.
Selected Publications
- Cobbina-Dungy, Jennifer, Soma Chaudhuri, Ashley Lacourse and Christina Dejong. (2022). Defund the Police: Perceptions among Protestors in the 2020 March on Washington. Criminology & Public Policy. Vol. 21 (1): 147-174
- Cobbina, Jennifer, Soma Chaudhuri, Victor Rios and Michael Conteh. (2019). “I will be out there everyday strong!” Protest Policing and Future Activism Among Ferguson and Baltimore Protestors. Sociological Forum. Vol. 34 (2):409-433
- Chaudhuri, Soma and Merry Morash. (2019) Building Empowerment, Resisting Patriarchy: Understanding Intervention Against Domestic Violence Among Grassroots Women in Gujarat, India. Sociology of Development. Vol. 5(4): 360-380
