Biography
Asha presently teaches at the Advanced Centre for Women's Studies, TISS. She was initially trained in medicine from Calcutta University, and went on to work on an Mphil on the category "Third World Women" in Women's Studies from Jadavpur University, and thereafter completed PhD in Cultural Studies from Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore. Her current work explores the contexts of gender and biomedicine, with a focus on feminist epistemological critiques of the same. She has published in the areas of gender diversity in science institutions, feminist standpoint methodologies, interdisciplinarity in higher education, sexuality and the nation. Her most recent publication includes The Dai and the Indigenous: notes on the appearance and disappearance of a figure in the therapeutics of a nation , from Routledge International. Asha was recently Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow at the King's India Institute, London, UK, working on research related to the status of the dai or midwife in colonial contexts. Asha recently concluded a multi-sited study on the appearance and journey of gender-sexuality as a metaphor in medical text and practice, that also explored changing terms of legibility and entry of persons of gender-marginal lives and experiences into contemporary healthcare spaces in India. Asha is member, Indian Association of Women's Studies.