Sujatha Fernandes

Sujatha Fernandes is a Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, a position she has held since 2016. She previously served as Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Fernandes earned a BA (Honors) in Political Economy and Gender Studies from the University of Sydney in 1997 and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. Earlier in her career, she was a Wilson-Cotsen Fellow at Princeton University’s Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts from 2003 to 2006. Her academic trajectory includes fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and a Distinguished CUNY Fellowship at the Advanced Research Collaborative. In 2008, she received the Felix Gross Award from the CUNY Academy for Arts and Sciences for outstanding research.

Fernandes specializes in social and labor movements, participatory media and art, global Black cultures, migrant workers, and climate storytelling. She is the author of several books, including Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures (Duke University Press, 2006), Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Duke University Press, 2010), Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation (Verso, 2011), Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling (Oxford University Press, 2017), and The Cuban Hustle: Culture, Politics, Everyday Life (Duke University Press, 2020). Key publications also encompass journal articles such as 'The domestic workers' strike: migrant women, social reproduction and contentious labour organising' (Feminist Review, 2021) and 'Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chávez’s Venezuela' (Latin American Politics and Society, 2018). She has secured a three-year Discovery Project grant from the Australian Research Council valued at $240,770. Fernandes contributes to editorial boards, including Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora, and founded the Racial Justice and the Curriculum project at the University of Sydney. She has convened public event series like Land Justice and Climate Futures and served on the board of the Brecht Forum in New York City. Her work appears in outlets such as The New York Times, The Nation, and Orion Magazine.

Professional Email: sujatha.fernandes@sydney.edu.au