Samrat Sharma

Professional Bio

Samrat Sharma is a dual-title PhD student in Curriculum & Instruction and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State. Their research examines hijra subjectivity, caste, and the transnational politics of gender in South Asia, with a particular interest in informal forms of knowledge, performance, and everyday sociality. Their current work explores how practices such as gaali (cussing) and gupshup (gossip) function as modes of negotiating gendered and caste-based power. Samrat’s research blends feminist, anti-caste, and transnational frameworks to think about how people build worlds, tell stories, and negotiate power in ways that are anything but ordinary.