Professor
Dr. Jigna Desai
Title & Affiliation
Professor, Department of Feminist Studies & Department of Asian American Studies
Director, Center for Feminist Futures
University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)
Specialization
- Queer of Color Critique
- Women of Color Feminisms
- South Asian Diasporic & Migration Studies
- Asian American Studies
- Critical University Studies
- Critical Disability Studies
- Public Engagement & Humanities
- Media Studies
Biography
Dr. Jigna Desai is a distinguished scholar whose work bridges feminist studies, Asian American studies, and media studies, with a particular emphasis on diasporic feminism and queer diasporas. Her foundational scholarship introduces the concept of the Brown Atlantic as a critical analytic framework to examine how South Asian diasporas negotiate gender, sexuality, and race within the contexts of colonialism, empire, and nation-state formations.
Her book Beyond Bollywood (Routledge, 2004) is widely recognized as a pioneering text that queers the study of South Asian diaspora and highlights the central role of cinema in shaping racialized, gendered, and sexual identities in North America and Britain. She has also co-edited several influential collections, contributing to transnational feminist discourse and Asian American studies.
Dr. Desai’s current research extends into critical disability studies, feminist and queer science studies, and analyses of racial necropower. Her work explores concepts such as neural selfhood and neurocitizenship, investigating how evolving understandings of the brain reshape definitions of the human, citizenship, and identity through intersectional feminist, queer, and disability theory frameworks.
In addition to her scholarly contributions, Dr. Desai has played a significant role in academic leadership and public humanities. She has served as a board member of the Association for Asian American Studies and is co-editor of the Asian American Experience book series at the University of Illinois Press. She co-founded the MN Youth Story Squad, a K–12 university partnership, and served as Principal Investigator for Minnesota Transform, a $5 million initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation focused on advancing decolonial and racial justice through public humanities work.
A deeply committed mentor and educator, Dr. Desai has advised and supported over 100 graduate students and junior faculty. Across nearly three decades, her teaching, research, and service have consistently focused on strengthening institutional support for racial justice, international students, LGBTQ+ communities, and students of color in higher education.
Education
- Ph.D., English (Minor in Feminist Studies), University of Minnesota, 1998
- B.S., Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990
- B.S., Literature with Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990
Selected Publications/Books
- Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film (Routledge, 2004)
- Bollywood: A Reader (Co-editor, Open University/McGraw-Hill, 2009)
- Transnational Feminism and Global Advocacy in South Asia (Co-editor, Routledge, 2012)
- Asian Americans in Dixie: Race and Migration in the South (Co-editor, University of Illinois Press, 2013)
- Articles published in journals such as Social Text, Journal of Asian American Studies, and Meridians
Research
- Diasporas
- Film and Media Studies
- Asian American Disability and Mental Health
- Ethnic Studies and Feminist Studies in Higher Education
- Asian American Feminism
- Speculative Fiction and Futures
- Neurodivergent Epistemologies
- Ethnic and LGBTQ Studies in K–12 Education