Dr.Purnima Mehta Bhatt
Author & Academician
Purnima Mehta Bhatt, PhD
Hood College, USA
Brief Bio
Purnima Mehta Bhatt has been a Professor of history, anthropology and interdisciplinary studies at Hood College, USA, since 1977. She completed her BA and MA in Indian history from Delhi University, did post-graduate work at Harvard University and was awarded her PhD in African history from Howard University.
Dr. Bhatt’s current research interests focus on the historical and contemporary roles of women in Asia and Africa; global perspectives on women, power and politics; women’s leadership in peace movements; the impact of globalization on women; and more recently, the African presence in India.
Dr. Bhatt is the author of numerous peer reviewed papers and six books: Scholar’s Guide to Washington D.C.: African Studies (published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution); ‘Reminiscences’, Zubaan Publications; ‘Sharadabehn Mehta: Una Mujer Exceptional en al India de su Tiempo’, a translation of the autobiography of an Indian feminist and pioneer in the field of women’s education, 1882-1970. She has also contributed a chapter in ‘Ethno-Ornithology: Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Cultures and Society’, published by Earthscan/Springer. Her book titled, Her Space, Her Story: Exploring the Stepwells of Gujarat, was published by Zubaan in 2014. Her recent publications include a chapter in a book titled, Womens’ Leadership in Chaotic Environments, published by Springer in December 2016; a chapter entitled Slavery and the Slave Trade in the book African Diasporan Communities Across South Asia; and a book titled, The African Diaspora in India: Assimilation, Cultural Change and Survivals (Routledge), published in October 2017. Her latest book, ‘Dying’ to be White: The Obsession With Fair Skin in India and the Global South will be published by Routledge in August 2024.
She has lectured extensively in the United States, India, UK, Europe, Mexico, Philippines, S. Korea, Malaysia, Tunisia and Kenya.
She is the recipient of many fellowships and honors, including the ‘excellence in teaching award’. She has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences. In the year 2019, she was a guest speaker at the Ahmedabad International Literature Festival and the keynote speaker at the International Conference on Migration, Diaspora and Development: An Indian perspective, sponsored by the Centre for Diaspora Studies, Central University of Gujarat.