PhD Thesis
PhD Supervisor: Nicole Bourbonnais, 2nd Reader: Aditya Bharadwaj, External Co-supervisor: Frédérique Apffel-Marglin (Professor Emerita, Smith College)
Completion date: 25 June 2025
Dr. Shriya Patnaik has a PhD in International History and Politics (Summa cum Laude) from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Switzerland, where her research has been supported by the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, Swiss National Science Foundation Doctoral Grant, Swiss Network of International Studies, Swiss Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Community Scholarship. Her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and in book chapters for edited volumes with Routledge, Taylor and Francis, Springer, and Palgrave Macmillan, among others.
Shriya pursued her Bachelor’s in History from Cornell University (Magna cum Laude Honours) in 2014 as a Cornell Tata Scholar. She subsequently pursued a Double Masters’ in International History with a focus on Gender Studies from the Columbia University-London School of Economics Dual Degree MA-MSc program (with a Distinction) in 2017. In her undergraduate years, she was selected to be a part of an Exchange program at Oxford University’s Mansfield College on a full scholarship, where she undertook tutorials in History and Political Science. During her academic trajectory so far, Shriya has been closely involved in conducting archival, qualitative, and quantitative research for various data-driven projects, including for the Cornell University’s Language Acquisition Lab, Cornell’s Future of Minority Studies Project, the LSE Women’s Library, Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, Heidelberg University’s Odisha Research Project, and the Odisha High Court and Judicial Archives.
In addition to her scholarly interests, she has also worked in the public policy and NGO sectors on gender and human rights projects across India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. These experiences have played a key role in shaping her research focus on women’s rights and minority rights initiatives at a transnational scale. Shriya is currently a Research Associate at the Pierre du Bois Foundation in Switzerland and is part of the United Nations’ Centenary of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations research project. Additionally, she serves as a research affiliate with the Graduate Institute’s Gender Centre and the Global Migration Centre. In terms of her linguistic abilities, she is fully proficient in English, Hindi, and Oriya, has a medium level of proficiency in Sanskrit, and has a beginner’s level of proficiency in French.
Academic Work experience
Research Experience
- International Organisations Stipend Research Fellow at Swiss Network for International Studies (2021)
- PhD Research Affiliate at IHEID Gender Centre (2020-2024)
- PhD Research Affiliate at IHEID Global Migration Centre (2021-2024)
- Archival Research Assistant at Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (2015-2016)
- Research Assistant at Cornell University Future of Minority Studies Project (2010-2014)
- Research Assistant at Cornell University Language Acquisition Lab (2011-2014)
Research Interests
- International and Global History
- Indian History and South Asia Studies
- Gender and Sexuality
- Humanitarian Approaches of International Development Organisations
- Civil Society Movements
- Histories of Marginalisation
- Subaltern Studies
- British Colonial History
- Decolonization
- Women’s Rights
Relevant Publications and Works
- Sinjini Chatterjee and Shriya Patnaik (Eds). South Asia’s Courtesan, Hereditary, and Temple Performers: Expanding Discourse and Disrupting Histories. Dance Chronicles. Studies in Dance and the Related Arts. (Forthcoming).
- Shriya Patnaik, “Exploring Lived Forms of Female Agency and Adaptation through the Figure of the ‘Mahari’ Temple Performer in Odisha,” Public Lecture delivered at Heidelberg University South Asia Institute History Departmental Colloquium Series (2024): https://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/en/events-at-sai/exploring-lived-forms-of-female-agency-and-adaptation-through-the-figure-of-the-mahari-temple-2024-05-02
- Shriya Patnaik, “Tracing Historical Disruptions in the Sex Worker Rights Movement in Late Colonial and Postcolonial India through Testimonies from within the Community,” Book Chapter in Catherine Phipps (eds) Histories of Sex Work Around the World (New York: Routledge, 2024): pp. 188-213. (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003386612-12).
- Shriya Patnaik, “Mutating Modalities of Performative Culture and Social Regulation in Conceptualizing Alternative Histories of Tawaifs across Colonial and Postcolonial India,” Book Chapter in Anurima Banerji, Royona Mitra and Jasmine Johnson (eds) Oxford Handbook of Dance Praxis (New York: Oxford University Press, 2025, forthcoming).
- Shriya Patnaik, “Marginalizing the Matriarchal, Minority Subject: A Study of the Policing and Disenfranchisement of the Mahari-Devadasi of Orissa in Colonial India,” Book Chapter in R. Srinivasan (eds) Borders: Physical, Social and Cultural (New Delhi: HOW Academics, 2024): pp. 111-141. ISSN 978-93-95522-94-6.
- Shriya Patnaik, “Exploring the Contested and Controversial Nature of the Sex Industry in India: Experiential Encounters by Sex-Workers from the Periphery,” Book Chapter in Abhiruchi Ojha and Pramod Jaiswal (eds) South Asian Women and International Relations (Singapore: Springer-Palgrave Macmillan, 2023): pp. 261-287. (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9426-5_15)
- Shriya Patnaik, “Sex-workers Defying Patriarchy and Challenging State Reform and Rehabilitation Projects in India: Voices from the Margins,” Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Special Issue on Gender Activism in India, 7:1 (2023): https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/12883
- Shriya Patnaik, “Marginalizing the Matriarchal, Minority Subject: A Critical Analysis of Human Rights and Women’s Reform Projects in Colonial and Postcolonial India through the Case-Study of the ‘Mahari-Devadasi’,” Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies, Special Issue (2021). (DOI: 10.47362/EJSSS.2021.2105)
- Shriya Patnaik, “The Invisible Voices of India’s Informal Sector Sex Workers,” LSE South Asia Centre Blog (2021): https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2021/03/22/the-invisible-voices-of-indias-informal-sector-sex-workers/?fbclid=IwAR3Z3Zr4yirSxGjAxrAj7bh-7g3cSgvX0QTXDNNZSuIs_Mbq11pX79Vw2tI
- Shriya Patnaik, “The Lost Life Stories of Mahari-Devadasis in Postcolonial India (1947-2015),” Borderlines (2021): https://www.borderlines-cssaame.org/posts/2021/5/24/the-lost-life-stories-of-mahari-devadasis-in-postcolonial-india?fbclid=IwAR2XgDC9WpEwaG1fj2Ohj_KvqmNVIrEMb5SYaPsHhgrtEI16LU5zTlgFv0M
- Shriya Patnaik, “The Missing Life Stories of India’s Sex Workers,” Graduate Institute Gender Centre (2020): https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/missing-life-stories-indias-sex-workers?fbclid=IwAR1EBjCvP1f5NlSei-4iFhpcvHa4gXs2w-iphGuxaCORnAYrPRlJxv42vG0
- Shriya Patnaik, Swiss Network of International Studies Podcast (2021): https://snis.ch/awards/the-minority-question-a-critical-analysis-of-gender-human-rights-and-womens-reform-projects-in-colonial-and-postcolonial-india-through-the-figure-of-the-mahari-devadasi/?fbclid=IwAR03dCGPYW9TjbImJCoUSpAWRKLj46wB1N1GxkKHwyLDysgkh5PMAHtswbI
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES
- International Organisations Stipend Research Fellow at Swiss Network for International Studies (2021)
- PhD Research Affiliate at IHEID Gender Centre (2020-2024)
- PhD Research Affiliate at IHEID Global Migration Centre (2021-2024)
- Archival Research Assistant at Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (2015-2016)
- Research Assistant at Cornell University Future of Minority Studies Project (2010-2014)
- Research Assistant at Cornell University Language Acquisition Lab (2011-2014)
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES
- Research Scholar at United Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation Project (2022-Present)
- Development Officer at The Brookings Institution – India Centre (2018-2019)
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
- Swiss Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Award (2023)
- SNSF Doc.Ch Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation (2022-2024)
- Swiss National Science Foundation Gender Equality Grant (2022-2024)
- Swiss National Science Foundation Project Completion Grant (2024)
- Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship – Federal Commission for Scholarships (2020-2022)
- Swiss Network of International Studies International Organizations Research Stipend – PhD Fellow (2021)
- North American Oral History Association Conference Grant (2021)
- Pierre Du Bois Foundation Research Grant (2021)
- Geneva Graduate Institute Community Scholarship (2019-2020)
- London School of Economics Postgraduate Merit Scholarship (2016-2017)
- Davis Projects for Peace Award (2016)
- Service Fellowship – Odisha State Government (2016)
- Columbia University Alliance Fellowship (2015)
- Women’s International Leadership Award – International House, New York (2015)
- Cornell University Anne Macintyre Litchfield History Award (2014)
- Cornell University Cornelis W. Dekiewet History Award (2013)
- Cornell University Dean’s List (2011-2014)
Cornell University Tata Scholar (Tata Trust India, 2010-2014)
Affiliations
- IHEID Gender Centre
- IHEID Global Migration Centre