This year, five Watson research proposals were awarded a total of $100,000 in Birkelund Funds. The funds support faculty research, especially in the early stages, and encourage student engagement in research.
Read Article
Poulami Roychowdhury
Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs
111 Thayer Street, Room 250
Areas of Expertise
Criminal Justice, Gender, Human Rights, Law Enforcement & Policing, Political Economy, Social Movements
Areas of Interest
Law, Social Movements, Gender, Political Economy, Violence
Biography
Poulami Roychowdhury is an associate professor of sociology and international and public affairs at the Watson Institute (with a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology).
Roychowdhury's research and teaching focus on the relationship between politics and law, with special attention to issues concerning gender-based violence. Roychowdhury’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the American Institute for Indian Studies, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.
Roychowdhury's writing can be found in a range of journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, Feminist Studies, Gender & Society, Signs, and Social Problems. Her book, "Capable Women, Incapable States: Negotiating Violence and Rights in India," is available through Oxford University Press.
Roychowdhury’s research has won awards from the American Sociological Association, the Eastern Sociological Society, the Law and Society Association and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Sociology, Gender & Society, Law & Social Inquiry, and Sociological Theory.
Research
How do states regulate violence and why do state officials use certain strategies over others? When does violence inspire political mobilization? How does mobilization impact gender inequality and people’s abilities to acquire justice? These are some of the questions that motivate Professor Roychowdhury’s academic work.
Professor Roychowdhury’s award-winning book, "Capable Women, Incapable States: Negotiating Violence and Rights in India," was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. Through ethnographic and interview-based accounts of survivors, civil society groups, and law enforcement personnel, this book develops a theoretical framework for understanding how collective action influences law enforcement decision-making and women’s access to justice.
Currently, Dr. Roychowdhury is working on three separate projects. The first examines the politics of sexual harassment in India, tracing the evolution of new policing practices around street harassment. The second focuses on the transnational politics of reproductive justice, asking how women respond to legal challenges against abortion. The third is an interdisciplinary, collaborative initiative that traces the inequality of COVID-19 in India.
Publications
BOOKS
Forthcoming 2025. Pandemic Inequality: Citizens, States, and Covid 19 in India, with Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner (UVA). Under contract with Oxford University Press.
2021. Capable Women, Incapable States: Negotiating Violence and Rights in India. New York: Oxford University Press. Forthcoming
- American Sociological Association, Human Rights Section, Gordon Hirabayashi Book Award 2022
- American Sociological Association, Distinguished Book Award, Honorable Mention 2022
- Eastern Sociological Society, Mirra Komarovsky Book Award 2022
- Law and Society Association, Herbert Jacob Book Prize, Honorable Mention 2022
ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS
2025. “The Perils and Promises of Unequal Democracy: Insights from the Sociology of India,” with Rina Agarwala (Johns Hopkins). Annual Review of Sociology, 51: 4.1-4.21.
2023. “Methodological Impasses: Facing Interrogation and Silence While Gathering Data on Sexual Violence in India,” with Aditi Malik (Holy Cross). Political Science & Politics, 57(2).
2022. “Between Women and the State: Rights Brokers and Capital Accumulation in West Bengal.” Toward a Sociology of South Asia: Rethinking Politics, Labor, and Culture. Eds. Smitha Radhakrishnan and Gowri Vijayakumar. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
2021. “Incorporation: Governing Gendered Violence in a State of Disempowerment.” American Journal of Sociology, 124(4): 852-888. 2019. “Illicit Justice: Aspirational-Strategic Subjects and the Political Economy of Domestic Violence.” Law & Social Inquiry, 44(1): 1-24.
- American Sociological Association, Human Rights Section, Best Article Award 2022
- American Sociological Association, Political Sociology Section, Best Article Award 2022
- American Sociological Association, Sociology of Law Section, Best Article Award 2022
- American Sociological Association, Crime Law and Deviance Section, James F. Short Jr. Distinguished Article Award, Honorable Mention 2022
- American Sociological Association, Development Section, Best Faculty Article Award, Honorable Mention 2022
- Society for the Study of Social Problems, Arlene Kaplan Daniels Paper Award, Honorable Mention 2022
Teaching
SOCI 2330 States, Power, Politics (graduate)
IAPA 1800 Politics of Reproductive Justice (undergraduate)
SOCI 1480 What's Wrong with Empowerment? (undergraduate)