phd
 

PhD Thesis Title: Neoliberal Feminism At The Site of Social Media: Rediscovering Feminist Subversion Within the Digital Landscape

PhD Supervisor: Elisabeth Prügl and Sungmin Rho 

The proposed research project aims to explore how social media platforms act as a site for neoliberal feminism to thrive while focusing on the stratified experiences of Indian women and rediscovering feminist subversion within the arcane digital landscape. This study will examine the implications of monetisation of activities that fall under the ambits of care work by examining the ‘influencer culture’ on social media. With reports being published on women-led self-employment being at an all-time high in India, it is imperative to study neoliberal feminism thriving in a new kind of public cradled by social media platforms. This study also looks at the emancipatory potential of social media in organising micro-rebellions like the Me Too movement serving as a platform for women’s solidarity in exposing narratives of women from different social locations. 
 

Profile
 

Sneha’s research focuses on the performance and monetisation of care work on social media and how that aids the process of neoliberalising feminism. She aims to examine its potential for feminist subversion in the Indian context while focussing her research on the existing discourse on feminist political economy and social reproduction theory. She is also interested in problematising the postfeminist discourse that is prevalent on social media platforms. She has undertaken several research projects on the ground regarding the border dynamics between India and Bhutan, and the role of local vendors in the unorganised sector in Kolkata. She is also interested in exploring the consequences of state-led women empowerment and through her research, she hopes to influence policy implementation that are aimed towards achieving gender equity. 
 

Research Interests

 

• Social Reproduction Theory 
• Feminist Political Theory 
• Postcolonial Feminism 
• State and Surveillance 
• Feminist Political Economy

Publications and Works
 

• Inclusive Urban Eco-systems: A Case Study on Street Vending Businesses in Markets of Kolkata, India, Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. 47, No. 4/5 (2019), pp. 581-606 (26 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/26848811 
• An Inclusive View to Street Vending in India: Reflections from the Street Markets across Kolkata- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3254267
   

Affiliations

Gender Centre, The Graduate Institute, IHEID