kalpana kannabiran

Welcome to my personal website!

A snapshot

I begin with a brief personal background. I am a sociologist and legal researcher with a keen interest in the areas of sociology of law, historical sociology, social movements, gender studies, disability studies, indigenous/adivasi rights, minority rights, development studies, jurisprudence (colonial, constitutional and criminal) and human rights. I have worked with Asmita Resource Centre for Women, and have taught in NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, and Council for Social Development, Hyderabad and Delhi.

I am an incoming Advanced Fellow 2026-27 at the Vienna Centre for Advanced Studies (ViCAS). This is a new interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Vienna, set up with the aim of fostering close interaction between fellows and researchers at the University of Vienna.

“Through formal and informal conversations and collaborative activities, fellows become part of a vibrant intellectual community whose diversity of perspectives stimulates creativity, critical reflection, and innovation.”

My books, research articles and opinion pieces are on various media platforms.

Jury Member, INFOSYS Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, 2024, 2025 and 2026 https://www.infosysprize.org/jury/humanities-social-sciences.html

I have been active in the International Sociological Association, as President, Research Committee 32: Women and Gender in Society (2002-2006), and currently President, Research Committee 05: Racism, Nationalism, Indigeneity and Ethnicity & Member, EDI Task Force (2023-2027).

A Life Member of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies, I was elected Joint Secretary in 1996-98 and General Secretary, 1998-2000.

At the international level, I completed a three-year term as Civil Society Advisory Governor (Asia Region), Commonwealth Foundation, London, January 2020—December 2022.

Section Editor, Gender, Law and Legal Institutions, Oxford Intersections-Gender Justice. https://academic.oup.com/oxford-intersections/pages/gender-justice

Member, Editorial Board, Comparative Legal Studies, Society and Justice series, Edinburgh University Press

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-comparative-legal-studies-society-and-justice/

areas of interest, publication and work

Sociology (India, public sociology); Interdisciplinary Law; Indigenous/Adivasi Studies; Critical Caste Studies; Caste-Race Intersections and Diaspora Studies; Critical Disability Studies; Women’s & Gender Studies; Sexuality, Gender based violence and Sexual/Reproductive Justice; Development Studies; Regional Studies; Violence Studies; Law and Society; Law & Literature; Critical Legal Studies; Human Rights & Civil Liberties; Work and Labour Studies; Social Movements and Resistance; Transnational Feminisms; Studies in Transversal Politics; Decoloniality, Decolonization and Counter-colonialism.

These are areas I have researched and published in.

PUBLIC WRITING

Girl Punk, Interrupted

Bilkis Bano’s Lonely Battle for Justice is a Heartfelt Cry for India to Resurrect its Secular Values

The Pussy Riot trial in Russia is a reminder that women and feminist politics have been an essential part of the struggle against oppressive systems in India too, from Chipko to Posco.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/girl-punk-interrupted/article3812677.ece

More Public Writing

Bilkis Bano’s Lonely Battle for Justice is a Heartfelt Cry for India to Resurrect its Secular Values

The remission granted to men convicted of gangrape and mass murder is our defeat. It is our collective responsibility to resoundingly say ‘no more of this’.

https://scroll.in/article/1033703/bilkis-banos-lonely-battle-for-justice-is-a-heartfelt-cry-for-india-to-resurrect-its-secular-values

More Public Writing

Same-sex marriages in India: Trans-formations, intimacies, and public morality

Bilkis Bano’s Lonely Battle for Justice is a Heartfelt Cry for India to Resurrect its Secular Values

Same-sex marriages in India: Trans-formations, intimacies, and public morality

We now have questions of the ‘desirability’ of queer marriages with opinions ranging from rejection of marriage, of monogamy, to advocating choice (of whether or not to marry). What is important, however, is that the questions are all out of the closet and subject of open debate in courts and outside.

https://thesouthfirst.com/opinion/same-sex-marriages-in-india-trans-formations-intimacies-and-public-morality/

More Public Writing