Durba Mitra

Humanities
Acting faculty director, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; and Richard B. Wolf Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Photo courtesy of Durba Mitra

Durba Mitra is the acting faculty director of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America and the Richard B. Wolf Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Mitra works at the intersection of feminist and queer studies. Mitra’s book, Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought (Princeton University Press, 2020), demonstrates how ideas of deviant female sexuality became foundational to modern social thought. Her current book project explores the history of Third World feminist thought and South–South solidarity movements.

At Harvard, Mitra has been awarded the 2019 Roslyn Abramson Award, which recognizes teachers for excellence and sensitivity in teaching undergraduates, the 2020 Star Family Prize for Excellence in Faculty Advising, and a 2021 Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship for “distinguished accomplishments in the fields of literature, history, or art.” Mitra was named a favorite professor by the Harvard College Classes of 2021 and 2022.