Laura Dudley Jenkins

Laura Dudley Jenkins
Laura.Jenkins@uc.edu
Political Science Department
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati OH 45221-0375
513-556-3308
Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Political Science 1992-8
PhD Political Science August 1998. MA Political Science May 1993
Subfields: Comparative Politics and International Relations
Minors: Politics of Cultural Pluralism and South Asian Studies
Dissertation: Identity and Identification: Affirmative Action in India and the United States
Advisor: Crawford Young
Languages: Hindi and Urdu
Lawrence University 1987-1991
BA summa cum laude, majors in government and music (violin), Phi Beta Kappa
Languages: Marathi and French
Academic Employment
Associate Professor with tenure. University of Cincinnati Department of Political Science 2004-present.
Assistant Professor. 1998-2004.
Undergraduate Director 2006-
Faculty Affiliate with Department of Women’s Studies and Asian Studies Program.
Case Writing Associate for Teaching Human Rights Online (THRO).
Lecturer. Women and Politics class. Carthage College. Feb-May 1997.
Rapporteur. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), “International
Seminar on Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy.” New York, Sept 1994. Contributed comparative papers
on electoral systems and affirmative action and drafted final report for consideration at the 1995 UN
Social Summit.
Publications
Identity and Identification in India: Defining the Disadvantaged. London and New York: Routledge
Curzon, 2003.
(Consulting Editor) India and Pakistan: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.
“Race, Caste and Justice: Social Science Categories and Antidiscrimination Policies in India and the
United States.” Connecticut Law Review 36, 3 (spring 2004) pp. 747-85.
“Another ‘People of India’ Project: Colonial and National Anthropology,” Journal of Asian Studies 62,
4 (Nov. 2003). pp. 1143-1170.
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“Becoming Backward: Preferential Policies and Religious Minorities in India.” Commonwealth and
Comparative Politics 39, 2 (July 2001) pp. 32-50.
“Personal Law and Reservations: Volition and Religion in Contemporary India” in Gerald J. Larson, ed.
Religion and Personal Law in Secular India: A Call to Judgment. Delhi: Social Science Press and
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
“Caste, Class and Islam: Debating the Boundaries of Backwardness in India.” Eastern Anthropologist
53, 3-4 (July-Dec. 2000) pp. 327-39.
“Competing Inequalities: The Struggle over Reserved Legislative Seats for Women in India’s
Parliament.” International Review of Social History 44, 7 (1999) pp. 53-75.
“Preferential Policies for Disadvantaged Ethnic Groups: Employment and Education” in Crawford
Young, ed. Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy: A Comparative Inquiry. Macmillan Press, 1998.
Encyclopedia articles
“Caste,” Encyclopedia of Law and Society. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2006.
“Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and the Buddhist Dalits,” Encyclopedia of India. Stanley Wolpert, ed. Macmillan-
Gale, 2005.
“Women, Gender and the Constitutions of South Asian States,” Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic
Cultures, vol. 2. Suad Joseph, ed. Brill Academic Publishers, 2005.
Book Reviews
Review of Steven Wilkinson. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India for
Journal of Asian Studies 64, 2 (May 2005) pp. 508-9.
Review of Ashutosh Varshney. Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India for
Comparative Political Studies 36, 4 (May 2003) pp. 467-70.
Review of Atul Kohli, ed. The Success of India’s Democracy for Journal of Asia Studies 62,4 (Nov
2003).
Forthcoming
“True Believers? Agency and Sincerity in Representations of ‘Mass Movement’ Converts in 1930s
India” in Dennis Washburn and Kevin Reinhart, eds. Converting Cultures. Brill, forthcoming.
“Indian Nationalism from Independence to the Present,” in Nations and Nationalisms in Global
Perspective: An Encyclopedia of Origins, Development and Contemporary Transitions. David H.
Kaplan and Guntram H. Herb, eds. ABC-CLIO, forthcoming.
Review of Arvind Sharma. Reservation and Affirmative Action: Models of Social Integration in India
and the United States for Journal of Asian Studies, forthcoming.
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Fellowships and Grants
NEH grant to participate in summer institute “Diversity and Debates in Islam” June-July 2004.
Dartmouth Humanities Institute Fellowship for research and participation in interdisciplinary institute
“Converting Cultures: Religion, Ideology and Transformations of Modernity” Sept.-Dec. 2002.
Charles P. Taft Research Center grant for sabbatical research (2006), summer research fellowships
(2000, 2002), and seven travel grants. Two Women’s Studies travel grants. University of Cincinnati
Faculty Development Council group grants for collaborative research on sustainable development
(1999) and for case writing about human rights (2000).
Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship, United States Institute of Peace, Sept. 1997- Aug. 1998.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Scholarships, Jan.-May 1997, Sept. 1994- June 1995.
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, for research in India, Dec. 1995-
Dec. 1996.
University Fellowship, University of Wisconsin, Sept. 1992-May 1993.
Conference Papers
“Defining the disadvantaged for affirmative action in India: Recent Supreme Court decisions” and
“Legal limits on religious conversion in India.” Law and Society Association, Baltimore, July 6-7, 2006.
“Empowerment of Dalit women: Institutional and ideological approaches.” Annual Conference on South
Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct. 8, 2005.
“Political and religious apostasy: Lower caste religious conversions from Hinduism.” American
Academy of Religion, San Antonio, Nov. 22, 2004.
“Buddhist revival and modernity in India: The politics of identity change.” Association for Asian
Studies, San Diego, March 5, 2004.
“’I will not die a Hindu’: Mass conversion as resistance to state-imposed identities in India, 1935-1956.”
American Historical Association, Washington D.C. Jan. 8-11, 2004.
“Dalit mass conversion and empowerment: Politics of identity change, 1956-2002.” Annual Conference
on South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct 23-5, 2003.
“Race, caste and justice: Social scientific categories and antidiscrimination policies.” The Color Lines
Conference: Segregation and integration in America’s past and future, Harvard University, August 31,
2003.
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“Caste lists and certificates: Community definition through reservation policies.” Annual Conference on
South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct. 20, 2001.
“Christians and Scheduled Caste status: Contesting ideologies of conversion.” Association for Asian
Studies, Chicago, March 23, 2001.
“Not without my stereotypes: Muslim personal law debates via internet-based instruction.” Annual
Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct. 14, 2000.
“National ethnography in India: Politics of categories and consciousness.” Association for Asian
Studies, San Diego, March 2000.
“Major and minor minorities: Special rights for Muslims and women in India.” Annual Conference on
South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct. 16, 1999.
“Free to be OBC? The rise of ‘Backward’ politics in India.” Midwest Political Science Association,
Chicago, April 15-17, 1999.
“Caste, Class and Islam: Debating the boundaries of ‘Backwardness’ in India.” Association for Asian
Studies, Boston, March 13, 1999 and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Villanova
University, April 30-May1, 1999.
“Opening the ‘Black Box’: Race and caste based census categories.” Making History, Constructing Race
Conference, University of Victoria, Oct. 23-25, 1998.
“Hindu nationalism and the official boundaries of religious and caste communities in India.” Annual
Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin: Madison, Oct. 17, 1998.
“The Politics of defining the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’: Affirmative Action in India the United States.”
With Christian A. Jenkins, University of Wisconsin Institute of Legal Studies, May 1-2, 1998.
“Identity and identification: Affirmative action and the courts in India.” Midwest Political Science
Association, Chicago, April 12, 1997.
“From category to group: Affirmative action in India.” Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, March
14, 1997.
“Constructions of group identity in India.” MacArthur Consortium Workshop on Discourse. University
of Minnesota, 1995.
“The Maharashtra-Karnataka Border Dispute: Politics and Language in India.” MacArthur Consortium
Workshop on Ethnicity, the State and Security, Stanford University, 1994.
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Invited lectures or paper presentations at other universities
“Identity Politics and Affirmative Action in the United States.” Diplomatische Akademie, Vienna
(lecture via videoconference), May 12, 2006.
“Affirmative action: India, the United States and human rights.” Symposium on Affirmative Action: An
international perspective on a global dilemma. University of Connecticut School of Law, Nov. 5-6,
2003.
“Mixed motives, agency and sincerity: Representations of mass conversions in 1930s India.” Dartmouth
College Humanities Center, Nov. 5-6, 2003.
“Affirmative action and reservations: A comparative study of India and the United States.” Centre for
Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Sept. 16, 2002.
“Caste, Race, Religion and Class: Affirmative action in India and the United States.” Department of
Sociology, University of Mumbai, Sept. 5, 2002.
“Separate tables: The census and social classifications.” Census Workshop, Watson Institute of
International Studies, Brown University, May 4-5, 2000.
“The Empire Strikes Back: Two ethnographies of the people of India.” Symposium on Intellectual
Pluralism and African Politics: A gathering in honor of Crawford Young. University of Wisconsin-
Madison, April 15, 2000.
Teaching
Graduate seminars:
Political Development, South Asian Politics
Undergraduate/graduate:
Women and politics in the third world, Nationalism and identity politics
Undergraduate:
Comparative politics of developing countries, Senior capstone on
nationalism, Politics of South Asia, Introduction to comparative
government
Author of “Shah Bano: Muslim Women’s Rights,” case on Teaching Human Rights Online
[http://oz.uc.edu/thro] named best political website by the American Political Science Association, 2001.
Professional service
Referee for journals Comparative Politics, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Security Studies.
Board Member, South Asian Muslim Studies Association 2000-present.
Lectures for the American Association of University Women, Cincinnati (2006) and the World Affairs
Council of Greater Cincinnati (2002).
Chair of Charles Phelps Taft Research Center Conferences and Lectures Committee 2003-5 and member
of numerous department, college and university committees.