Priya Chandrasekaran, MFA, PhD

Priya is a cultural anthropologist who holds a PhD in anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center and an MFA in fiction from The New School. Broadly, her research and writing focus on place-making and the way rural communities in the Global South respond to the complicated effects of globalization. Her dissertation research examined how women farmers and rain-fed grains in Uttarakhand, India are situated in regional, national, and transnational circuits of political economy and competing projects for food security/sovereignty, biodiversity, and development. She has been awarded research grants from the American Association of University Women and the National Science Foundation and received a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature.

Priya is currently an assistant professor of liberal arts and anthropology at Juilliard, as well as a faculty member of the Bard Prison Initiative. Previously, she taught at Hamilton College, Princeton University, and Hunter College, and served twice as a visiting faculty member in the IHP Climate Change program. With extensive professional experience as an outdoor educator and leader of student groups abroad, Priya is a firm believer in the power of experiential education and learning across differences.

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, City University of New York
• MFA, Fiction, The New School