Amrita Basu
Encyclopedia
Amrita Basu is an American academic. She specialises in South Asian politics who has a particular interest in women's movements and other social movements. Her most influential publications concern the contested meaning of feminism and the complicated relationship between feminist and women's movements, the prominent role of women in the religious right and the relationship of local movements to larger global forces. She teaches courses on women's activism, human rights and post colonial nationalism.
. Her parents, Rasil and Romen Basu, were both members of the United Nations
secretariat in New York. Her mother worked for the branch on women, and is credited for having introduced Amrita to feminism
. Basu spent her childhood outside of the U. S., in Egypt
, Libya
, Thailand
, and India
. She returned to New York for high school.
with a minor in Asian studies from Cornell University
in 1975. In 1977, Basu obtained her M. A. in political science
. Basu graduated from Columbia University
with a Ph.D.
in political science
in 1984. She is the Paino Professor of Political Science and Women and Gender Studies and Associate Dean of Faculty at Amherst College
.
for one year, she returned to Amherst College, and joined the Women and Gender Studies department. As of 2011 Basu divides her time between teaching Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies. She also chairs the Political Science department and serves on the Committee of Six.
from 1995-2001. Basu also has served on several academic committees including as the Chair of the Women and Politics Council of The American Political Science Association
from 2005-2006. She has served on an external committees at Mount Holyoke, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 2001, Basu was a consultant to the United Nations
Development Program Project on Women and Governance in New Delhi, India. Basu has served on several advisory and selection committees including the Ford Foundation
, the Fulbright Scholar Awards Committee, and the National Endowment for the Humanities
.
Basu, Amrita. Two Faces of Protest: Contrasting Modes of Women’s Activism in India. University of California Press and Oxford University Press: New Delhi, 1992
Basu, Amrita, ed, The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995 and New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Community Conflicts and the State in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Appropriating Gender: Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia. New York: Routledge and New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World. Syracuse University Press, 2002
Basu, Amrita, co-ed, Beyond Exceptionalism: Violence, Religion and Democracy in India. Seagull Press: New Delhi and London, 2006
Basu has written several articles and contributions to edited books and journals including the Oxford Companion to Politics in India, the Introduction to Comparative Politics, the Journal of Women’s History, and many others.
Ford Foundation
Curriculum Development Grant (1998)
• Amherst College Research Award (1997–1998)
• The United States Institute for Peace, grant to convene a conference on Political Violence in India (1995)
• John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant (1993–1995)
• Amherst College Research Award (1993–1994)
• Karl Loewenstein Fellowship, Amherst College (1984–1985)
Early life
Basu was born in December 1953 in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Her parents, Rasil and Romen Basu, were both members of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
secretariat in New York. Her mother worked for the branch on women, and is credited for having introduced Amrita to feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. Basu spent her childhood outside of the U. S., in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. She returned to New York for high school.
Education
Basu obtained her B.A. in GovernmentGovernment
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
with a minor in Asian studies from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1975. In 1977, Basu obtained her M. A. in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. Basu graduated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
with a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
in 1984. She is the Paino Professor of Political Science and Women and Gender Studies and Associate Dean of Faculty at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
.
Career
From 1981 to 1987, Basu taught in the Political Science department at Amherst College. After serving as a visiting scholar at Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for one year, she returned to Amherst College, and joined the Women and Gender Studies department. As of 2011 Basu divides her time between teaching Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies. She also chairs the Political Science department and serves on the Committee of Six.
Academic Life
Amrita Basu has served on several editorial boards including the board of The Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars since 1992, and the International Feminist Journal of Politics and Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism since 2002 and 2001, respectively. She was the South Asia editor for The Journal of Asian StudiesJournal of Asian Studies
The Journal of Asian Studies is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies, covering Asian studies. The journal was first established in 1941 as The Far Eastern Quarterly, obtaining its new title in September 1956...
from 1995-2001. Basu also has served on several academic committees including as the Chair of the Women and Politics Council of The American Political Science Association
American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
from 2005-2006. She has served on an external committees at Mount Holyoke, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 2001, Basu was a consultant to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Development Program Project on Women and Governance in New Delhi, India. Basu has served on several advisory and selection committees including the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, the Fulbright Scholar Awards Committee, and the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
.
Publications
Basu's main publications address three main themes. The first concerns women's participation in left wing movements. This was the subject of her first book. A second theme concerns women's movements transnationally. A third theme is ethnic and religious conflict in India.Basu, Amrita. Two Faces of Protest: Contrasting Modes of Women’s Activism in India. University of California Press and Oxford University Press: New Delhi, 1992
Basu, Amrita, ed, The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995 and New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Community Conflicts and the State in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Appropriating Gender: Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia. New York: Routledge and New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998
Basu, Amrita, co-ed. Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World. Syracuse University Press, 2002
Basu, Amrita, co-ed, Beyond Exceptionalism: Violence, Religion and Democracy in India. Seagull Press: New Delhi and London, 2006
Basu has written several articles and contributions to edited books and journals including the Oxford Companion to Politics in India, the Introduction to Comparative Politics, the Journal of Women’s History, and many others.
Selected Awards and Fellowships
• Distinguished Teaching Award (2008)Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Curriculum Development Grant (1998)
• Amherst College Research Award (1997–1998)
• The United States Institute for Peace, grant to convene a conference on Political Violence in India (1995)
• John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant (1993–1995)
• Amherst College Research Award (1993–1994)
• Karl Loewenstein Fellowship, Amherst College (1984–1985)