Education
University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D., Communication
Bowling Green State University
M.A., Mass Communication
Bangalore University
M.S., Mass Communication
St. Josephs College
B.S., Physics and Mathematics
Research Interest
Deepa Kumar's research centers on Islamophobia, empire, culture, gender, race, class in the media, neoliberalism, labor, and social class. Her first book, "Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike" (University of Illinois Press, 2007), is about the power of collective struggle in effectively challenging the priorities of neoliberalism.
Kumar holds that if neoliberal globalization characterizes the economic logic of our age, the “war on terror” has come to define its political logic. She began her research into the politics of empire shortly after the tumultuous events of 9/11. Her second book, "Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire" (Haymarket Books, 2012), looks at how the “Muslim enemy” has historically been mobilized to suit the goals of empire. She is currently working on a third book on news media representations of the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.
Kumar is a much sought out public intellectual who has shared her expertise in numerous media outlets such as the BBC, The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Telesur, the Danish Broadcast Corporation, and other national and international media outlets.
Biographical Notes
Deepa Kumar's work is driven by an active engagement with the key issues that characterize our era–neoliberalism and imperialism. She has been active in various social movements for peace and justice and has written numerous articles in both scholarly journals and independent media. She is an elected leader of the Rutgers faculty union (the AAUP-AFT) and has sought to amplify the faculty voice in university governance. She is affiliated faculty in the Departments of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies, and with the Center for Race and Ethnicity.
Professor Kumar CV
