WGSS PhD Candidate, Chand, Awarded 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innnovation Award

Doctoral Candidate awarded prestigious award for commitment to research in the humanities and interpretive social sciences

WGSS Doctoral candidate, Chand, has been awarded a 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Award for support of their ongoing dissertation project entitled: Laboring For Justice Towards Trans Livelihoods: The Quest for Dignity and Otherwise Worlds. This award from the American Council of Learned Societies supports doctoral students whose dissertation projects expand the boundaries of the traditional dissertation. 

Chand's project examines how the Indian state, even as it curtails dissent, has inaugurated a new regime of trans citizenship through a sharp emphasis on “dignified livelihoods.” Combining discourse analysis, multi-sited ethnography, and a community-engaged collaborative storytelling project with trans activists, the study investigates how trans activists pursue dignity and livelihoods through what it terms “justice work,” a form of labor grounded in care, solidarity, and activism. This justice work unfolds within the intersecting forces of development policy, caste hierarchies, and Hindu nationalism. Drawing on the Black Radical Tradition and critical caste studies, the project develops a collaboratively authored book of utopian stories by trans activists that challenge dominant ideas of development, dignity, and relationality, offering visions of the trans quest for otherwise worlds. 

Congratulations Chand!!